Who's Next
by Kage Kancho
Summary: Some old villans are back, and are getting back at their nemisis Yusuke by picking off his friends. When love becomes involved, a royal mess is formed, as usual. Non Yaoi, pairings Kuramaoc, Hieioc, Yusukeoc, I finally finished!
1. Kuwabara

First of all, I want to apologize to all of the Kuwabara fans. He won't play a big part in this, but he does start the story…. So anyway, I'm sorry if you wanted him to play a bigger part. This is my first story, so I'm not quite sure how this is going to work. Please no flames, but you can send me complaints. If I make anyone go too far out of character, please tell me and I'll try to fix it by the next chapter. Also, there will be NO YOAI in this story. As close as Kurama and Hiei may seem, they are only friends. Sorry to Yoai fans. Anyway, please read and review.

You probably already know this, but I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or any other things that may appear unintentionally with copyrights. I do own Kage Kancho, and my friends have authorized me to use Ryu Shoku and Allie, but they don't come in this chapter

Chapter One:

Kuwabara turned. His black eyes made out a flash of gold, a swish of a putrid greenish gray color, and –

Pain erupted through his shoulder. Flaring, it was as though it burst out and slashed across the rest of is body, as though there was poison in his veins. Before he gave in to the swirling darkness, he had the most ridiculous thought: _If I got hit in the shoulder, why do my fingers hurt?_ His vision swam away from his eyes, leaving him in darkness, but he heard a certain, almost familiar, high-pitched voice croon, "Sleep tight, Kuwa-Chan…" and break off in high pitched cackles as his head erupted in pain, and he slept to escape it.

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Kurama awoke with a start. He took a decisive sniff of the smells floating on the air. Something had awakened him, and he was guessing it was not cinnamon buns, although some wonderful cinnamon-y smells were wafting upstairs.

Another sniff and a second's sifting through the smells, and he hit the acrid odor he was searching for.

Blood. Acidic, human blood, not in its host body. And worse, it smelled…. familiar.

He jumped from his bed, already clothed in a rumpled white fighting outfit with gold trim, and tied a forest green sash around his waist. As he ran toward the hall, he slipped into his white fighting slippers. Jogging downstairs as quickly as being inside a human-inhabited household, he yelled a message to his mom, being, "Mom, I have to go out for an hour or two! I'll be with my friends. Um…" His mind raced as he searched for a reasonable alibi. "Kuwabara needs help with his science report!"

"Alright, Suuichi. I'm going on a date, so I won't be back until late. Don't wait up."

"Yes mother. See you in the morning," he answered his human mother.

"Goodbye, Suuichi!"

"'Bye!" Kurama slipped through the door, sighing with relief as he finally could speed up. Shifting to top speed, he raced off. Nowhere near as fast as Hiei, he was still much faster than most ningens, and should not be seen going that fast to get to Kuwabara's for a report.

Following his nose, Kurama found himself passing under "Hiei's Tree".

Looking down, Hiei saw a curious sight: Kurama going top speed under "his" tree, not even noticing him. Jumping down, he easily matched Kurama's speed.

The emerald eyes flashed over to him in acknowledgement, as if saying, _Hi, I see you, now what, I'm busy._

"What is it, Kurama?" The fire demon was terse, as always.

"Blood, to the North." Again, not normal. Kurama had not elaborated, or even checked whose blood it was. However, this was easily explained in his next sentence: "Human."

"Ah." Kurama did have a soft spot for the ningens. To Hiei, this was not quite understandable. How could he care for such weaklings? But no matter, Kurama was his friend, and also, by his standards, the teen was weak. Never mind the actual power levels (although the Koorime was convinced that he was stronger there, too) his emotions got in the way and made him weak. Therefore he could not go alone, for he could not be allowed to be hurt.

Soon they arrived in the forest from which the stench was being emitted. Kurama stepped in, slowing to half speed as a precaution. Hiei sighed as they were reduced to what was, to his standards, a speed slower than crawling. Still, if he went ahead and Kurama got hurt because of it, it could cause complications. Not that he cared, or anything, just that Kurama could fight the lower class demons if need be, keeping them out of his hair while he dealt with the larger prey.

The redhead chuckled at his friend's line of thought. They were opposites in so many ways – while Kurama was thinking about the fight possibly to come, Hiei was caught up on listing Kurama's shortcomings. Yet he, a ruthless bandit of Demon World, had managed to become friends with the bloodthirsty Koorime.

His thoughts were cut off as they reached a secluded ravine. The blood they had smelled started her, in a puddle of drops, and then rolled/smeared in a fashion with random drops – as if someone who was bleeding had been rolled not to gently – toward the ravine. The amount was giant for the predicted time. Whosever blood this was, they were seriously injured.

After a quick sense for obvious demons (he left the rest for Hiei), Kurama rushed to the ravine. Down it he saw a leg in blue scraps of cloth that may have been clothes at one time, and literally, may have been blue. Now, however, they were soaked with blood. Chunks were torn out of the leg, and you could see bone. Following the leg, he saw another leg at a grotesque angle under the body. Amazingly, there seemed to be less piercings on the chest area of the blue-clad, bloody body, just deep impressions that looked like boot marks. Probably some broken or cracked ribs, at least. One arm had many holes going all the way through, starting at the shoulder. The other was not visible as it was twisted under he body, clearly broken. The head was in all right shape, except that it belonged to Kuwabara.

"Kuwabara…!" The cry burst from Kurama's lips before he realized he had moved. Then, again, he moved without consciously deciding to do so. In an instant, the mother figure of the Reiki Tantei was beside the oaf like warrior, cradling him as gently as possible as he lifted the prone body from the ravine. A small moan of pain escaped Kuwabara as the teen fox leapt from the canyon with the ningen in his arms.

Hiei's band glowed for a moment as his unnatural third eye searched for the demons who had done this to Kurama's friend. He refused to call the oaf his friend, but he would have his revenge on the perpetrators, if only for Kurama's sake. Indeed, it did seem to be causing the teen some unnecessary stress, as he was pale and shaking slightly, not good traits in our emotionless fox. Besides, the fire apparition reasoned, I can't allow these things to attack Kurama. He'd be defenseless

Had Kurama been listening at that point he would have laughed out loud at Hiei's "reasoning". However, the teenage spirit fox was clearly shaken. His eyes resembled a shocking emerald version of Kayko's, or Botan's, as he stared at the wounds, mentally ticking them off, then trying to push back the creeping possibilities in his mind. Still, there were exactly ten tunnels through his arm – tunnels like fingers. Elder Toguro's fingers. Just as quickly, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, and another quickly took its place. The chunks taken out of his legs looked an awful lot like Karasu's bombs. At that thought he broke out of his reverie, looked at Hiei for a moment, and raced off toward the closest hospital, still carrying the broken Sarayashki Jr. High student.

Kuwabara could still feel the pain through the musky darkness of unconsciousness. He could feel intensified points of pain under his knees and behind his shoulders. Or, should he say, his limb-like things. Why the hell do I hurt so much? What happened? All he could remember was the pain. Trying to sharpen his senses, figure out what was going on, the boy forced himself to breathe clearly. He forced his body to do something but lay there: smell. What was that? Roses? Why would he smell roses? Oh, wait, Kurama uses roses, doesn't he? Thank god he found me and not someone else. With that, he relaxed, and miraculously, the pain did go away. Who knows, maybe he wasn't quite unconscious before. Oh, whatever. He ended his train of thought in favor of rest.

Kurama spied the Keika Hospital in the distance. Not his first choice, but what the hell. What he needed now was speed. Maybe they could still save Kuwabara's life.

Hiei stayed back a ways, zipping along twenty to thirty feet in the distance of Kurama, watching for the things the shocked crimson haired boy would not notice, not with him so oblivious. This concreted his description of the fox: he was weak because he could not override his own feelings.

The redhead slowed to a ningen's top speed as he reached the hospital. People turned to stair as the long, red haired boy in a white, bloodstained fighting outfit ran into the hospital carrying a bloody something. The nurse at the front desk screamed slightly at the state of Kuwabara. Instead of acting calmly, she dropped all protocol and got on the emergency intercom. She practically screamed, "I need a stretcher down here NOW, and some ER, and any med staff we can spare. This is code red emergency status, get this guy some treatment NOW!"

Before she had even finished her speech, a guy had wheeled a stretcher into the hall, and no less than 20 ER plus some miscellaneous med techs had rushed in. Kurama gently placed Kuwabara on the stretcher and watched as they wheeled him away. He then turned to the nurse.

"I'm sorry, Miss, I'll answer any questions you wish, but could I use the phone first?"

"Yes, of course." She pointed out the pay phones. This was, of course, against protocol, but she was too freaked out, and anyway, the pay phones were within visibility. She'd be able to see if he tried to escape.

Kurama shakily pressed the buttons. Normally, an injury, even a death wouldn't shake him up this much, but he had a horrible hunch about the nature of Kuwabara's injuries.

"Yeah, yeah," Atsuko's voice met the line.

"Mrs. Urameshi, may I speak with Yusuke, please?"

"Yea Suuichi, one mo', one mo'."

Yusuke's voice came on the phone. "What's up, Kurama?"

"Yusuke, I hope I haven't interrupted anything important, but this is urgent."

You could hear him snapping off whatever game he was playing at the moment. When Kurama said something's up, you listen. "Nah, 's ok. What, another mission?"

"No, Yusuke, I'm afraid it's much more serious."

"Well, spit it out!"

"Can you meet me at the Keika Hospital on the North side of town?"

"Yeah, why, you hurt?"

"No. I'll explain when you get here. See you soon."

"Uh…Sure." He hung up.

Kurama next dialed the number of the Kuwabara residence. "Hey, it's Shizuru. What's up?" Kuwabara's older sister answered, as expected.

"Shizuru, it's Kurama."

"Hey, fox-boy. Need my bro?"

"No, I was calling for you, actually. It's about your brother."

"What'd Kazuma do this time?" She didn't sound at all concerned.

"I'm sorry, Shizuru, it's quite serious. Could you meet us at the Keika Hospital? They'll probably want to see a family witness to the idea that I wasn't the one who hurt him."

Now she sounded worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Could you meet m—"

"Yes! I'll be right there!" She slammed down he phone. Kurama turned to the nurse and explained about finding Kuwabara, leaving out key facts such as the smelling of the blood from home. By the time he was done explaining, Shizuru was coming through the door. He put an arm around her and led her to the waiting room, and helped her onto the couch.

"Kurama, WHERE is my baby bro?" She looked completely stressed.

"He's in critical condition. I'm sorry, Shizuru. I'm not sure he's going to make it." He held her as she broke down, acting completely unlike herself out of fear for her brother, burrowing her head on Kurama's chest, allowing him to hold her while she cried, her tears mixing with the newly dried blood on his uniform.

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Well there you go, my first fan fiction. The next installment should come out soon, I hope. I'm setting a goal of one review, and then I'll try to get the chapter out, hopefully by the end of the week.

Thanks again, please review, and please don't hurt me! (Puppy dog eyes)


	2. Keiko!

Okay, my second chapter.

QueenofAngstyFics: My first reviewer! Thank you! Okay, I'll try to keep getting out the chapters. I will have a contest later, but that will come after the 3rd/4th chapter. I'm glad you like the story, please keep writing!

Ryu Shoku: Umm…why are you reviewing when you can just talk to me face to face? Anyway, tell me if something's wrong.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, Allie, or Ryu Shoku. Or anything else except Kage in this story.

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Yusuke flipped the controllers of the arcade pilots' game much harder than normally warranted, growling as he forced his fighter around the flight course. It was two hours after Kurama had called him from the Keika hospital.

Flashback:

Yusuke ran into the hospital panting as he watched a puffy-eyed Shizuru leave the room with a nurse. He saw Kurama sitting on the couch, and Hiei flitting to the windowsill, probably having been forced just to sit in a chair. Taking another look at Kurama, he saw that either it was covered in blood, or his friend had gotten a very odd new uniform that radiated red from the center in odd drops. Not likely.

"Kurama! What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Relax, Yusuke. Not me." He looked slightly traumatized, but he still had his calculating look, which was a good thing. If this teen looses that look, you had better watch out.

"Well then, whose is it?"

Taking a deep breath and wincing at what would probably be Yusuke's reaction, the red-haired kitsune teen said softly, "Kuwabara's."

As expected, Yusuke exploded. "What the HELL do you mean?" yelled the Ma-zoku, so loudly that everyone in the room who wasn't already staring at the odd group turned to look. Kurama did not answer, just looked Yusuke straight in the eye, waiting for him to ask an intelligent question. Yusuke turned away, and thought for a question that would please the fox, yelling at Kurama in his head the whole time. But the Kurama in his head was doing the exact thing the real Kurama was doing: Just sitting there. In his head (because he didn't dare do it outside), he began yelling at Kurama ferociously for just sitting there.

Kurama resisted the urge to chuckle at Yusuke. That would break his stare, and he wanted Yusuke to remember to ask a real question. It was interesting that this band of misfits were friends. When Hiei was annoyed at a friend, he would list shortcomings and weaknesses. When Kurama was annoyed, he just pushed it out of the way and smiled (normally). When Yusuke was annoyed, apparently he yelled.

Finally calming down, Yusuke sat down across from Kurama. "Okay, what do you know about this that I don't?" He sounded suspicious, as though he expected Kurama to tell him that Yama was behind him or something.

"About time you asked an intelligent question." The fox was unable to resist the urge to poke a little fun at his hotheaded friend. "Alright. Kuwabara has just passed out of critical condition. It is still very serious, mind you – he could easily still die. However, knowing Kuwabara, I'm doubting that."

"Yeah, he's like a cockroach." Yusuke took a second look (or was it third? He doesn't seem very observant today….) at Kurama. "Wait a moment, if he's not gonna die, why are you still so pale?"

"It is the nature of the wounds which concerns me."

"Why? They infected or something?" But beneath his calm appearance, Yusuke was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this.

"No…but they had an uncanny resemblance to the wounds inflicted upon us by the Toguros' team."

"Toguro? You gotta be kidding me!"

"No, I'm afraid I'm not. His right shoulder had very suspicious-looking tunnels, lifting his shoulder cap off his shoulder. Quite like fingers. And his legs had gaping, fleshy holes, as though he had run through a minefield."

"Wait a sec…fingers? Minefield? You can't mean – Elder Toguro and Karasu?"

"That is my guess, yet I have not consulted with Hiei. He may very well know something we don't."

Yusuke looked at the black cloaked Koorime. "Well?"

"Hn. I know nothing but that whoever it is has a very good barrier."

At that point Shizuru came out, still puffy-eyed and shaky. Kurama got up and helped her to her car. The group disbanded then, as Kurama decided that Shizuru was unfit to drive in her state, and Hiei refused to be stuck alone with the ningen-like baka.

End Flashback

Yusuke was brought back to reality by a beeping on his pilot game.

You have lost 452 times. Please insert more tokens to play again.

Was flashing on the screen.

"Damn…gotta find…coins…" he muttered as he searched his pockets. He stopped abruptly as he felt a hand on his shoulder. An almost pasty white hand with black fingernails was daintily holding two quarters in front of him.

"Oh, hey Kage." He glanced around and located her friends, Allie and Ryu, also in the arcade. Ryu was playing Gauntlet, and Allie was punching the stuffing out of the punching game. The first time Kurama had suggested that they might be demons, Yusuke had rejected it without a second thought, but every time he saw them, it got harder to deny. They sure had the look down!

Kage was like a white and black photograph reject. She had pure white skin, white long hair to her knees with black streaks, wore a black long sleeve shirt and black slacks, with black leather boots and a white belt. She had black lipstick and heavy eyeliner and mascara. Her eyes were black on the top gradating down to white, with no pupils. Definitely a demonic look.

Ryu had waist length black hair, turning to red at the tips. Her eyes were almost like Hiei's – crimson – but not so large. She always wore jeans and a long sleeve black shirt, with variations on the design. Today it was a slipknot band sign.

But of those two were cute, their friend Allie was stunning. She looked almost human, but for her tilted emerald green eyes, which solicited specks of forest green pin wheeling out in a captivating design. She was wearing shimmering gold eye shadow, and gold highlights on her already shimmering natural tan. Adding to the Puerto Rican looks was her impeccably cut gold-red hair, shifting constantly at her shoulders as she turned her body to get the most out of her punches. She was wearing white Capri's and flip-flops, and a white, no-seam tank top, with a tan jacket that sported gold seams. And she kept pounding the shit out of the punching machine. Man, she was hot.

"What's wrong?" Kage had an uncanny knack for knowing his feelings. He really had to figure out how she did that….

"Aw, nothin'."

"No, something's wrong." It was quite unnerving to be stared at by someone without pupils, without even any color toward the bottom of her eyes, so he answered.

"Fine. A friend got hurt last night, pretty badly. He's in critical condition at the Keika Hospital."

"Oh!" One thing he hated about this girl: she was too kind. He had never seen her hurt anything, and now she looked physically pained to hear of Kuwabara's misfortune.

"Hey, get over it! He's gonna be fine!"

Yeah, okay. She handed him the quarters and turned to a fighting game. She kicked ass at it, as always, but her expression never changed. Always blissfully calm and slightly sad, while Allie glared, and Ryu smirked. He turned to the pilot game, but his concentration was shot, and was further broken by the sound of the phone ringing.

"Yeah?"

"Yusuke, I called Shizuru and she was crying. What happened?" It was Keiko Yukimura.

"Wait there. I'll come and explain."

"Um…Okay…"

"I'll see you there." He clicked off his phone and turned. "Thanks for the coins, Kage! Gotta go."

"Alright. Be careful." That was Kage.

"Yeah, bye!" Was elicited from Allie, and a "Don't get yourself killed," from Ryu, although he could have sworn that on his way out he heard her say, "Actually, on second thought…"

Yusuke walked to Keiko's house, which was not too far from the arcade. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to Keiko's house. No answer.

"Hey, Keiko, it's me! Open up!"

No answer.

Yusuke sighed and reached under the doormat, finding the key the Yukimura always left there. Lifting it, he turned it and opened Keiko's door.

"Keiko! Where are you?"

He walked upstairs to her room and opened the door.

And found it covered in blood.

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Author's note to Allie (Makenna): What type of demon are you? Review and tell me.

And to everyone else, please review, and thanks for reading!


	3. Kage is a demon?

Okay, thanks to all the reviewers! You are so cool!

Makenna: Okay, thanks for the description, and while I'm sorry, Keiko does not die, it will not be a Keiko x Yusuke pairing. I think you knew that. And I'm sorry you hate her that much.

QueenofAngstyFics: I'll try to keep one chapter coming out every day, at least for weekdays. On weekends, I can't promise anything. I'm glad you like the story – to tell the truth I write them each day at school and type them up between eight and nine each night, so I have no idea what is going to happen. You seem to be a master at this stuff – if you have any ideas, tell me. Thanks for reading!

Shadowfox017: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reading, hope you like this chapter.

Yeah, yeah, I don't own anyone but Kage. So what.

Okay, well, here goes…

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He opened the door to find the room covered in blood.

"Keiko!"

She was slumped in her chair, blood pouring from an impression in her skull closely resembling a boot mark. There were also assorted injuries all over her body, but Yusuke barely noticed those. All he saw was his best friend with a head wound.

"Keiko, come on, you gotta wake up!" He lifted her from her chair and, cradling her gently, set her on her bed, and frantically grabbed the phone, which was covered in blood, and set in an askew position beside her chair. She had probably dropped it when they attacked her. With growing panic, he punched in the first number that came to mind: Kurama's.

"Minamino residence, Suuichi speaking." As calm as ever, the fox answered the phone.

"Kurama – it's Keiko." Noting the sound in the Ma-zoku's voice, the color drained from Kurama's face.

"Are you at her house?"

"Y-yeah."

Kurama hung up without even so much as a goodbye. He fled from his house and ran full force to Keiko's, calling out to Hiei as he went.

Yusuke went to Keiko. _Damn, _he thought, _damn it! If you want your revenge on me, that's fine, but why are you hurting my friends? Keiko didn't do anything to you!_

Kurama ran up the stairs, a nagging suspicion growing in the back of his mind, and at the same time a black blur occupied the window.

The kitsune rushed into the room, a concerned expression filling his emerald eyes. He took in at a glance all the blood in the room, and how Yusuke was: kneeling by her side and holding her hand, a bloody phone dropped by his side. Hiei was standing in the window. _Oh, Keiko, why? What did you do?_ The nagging suspicion finally made itself known: what if they were hurting their friends just to get to them? Even more concern tinted his eyes as he headed toward Keiko.

Yusuke turned to Kurama. "Come on, Kurama! What do I do?" His eyes were filled with fear and panic as he searched Kurama's face, as if expecting to see the answer written there.

Kurama cradled the brunette girl and walked downstairs, taking each step one at a time, cautious not to jolt her. Going outside, he almost bumped into someone, because of his careful watch on the street and on Keiko.

It was Kage.

"Oh, excuse me, Kage." Kage looked over and gasped.

"Oh, gosh! Wait a moment, Kurama." She sounded physically pained, and Yusuke had a fleeting recognition of the voice – it was the same one that she had used when he said that Kuwabara was injured when they were in the arcade.

"Kage—" started Kurama, still calm, but almost unbearably urgent, and with good reason! "I really don't have time."

Her expression turned scolding, and her eyes flashed. "Kurama, take that girl inside, now."

"Kage --!" he broke off as she pushed him gently into the house and toward a couch. "Kage, what are you --?"

"Lay her down on the couch, gently." Her tone was commanding, and, shocked, Kurama did what she said. Yusuke ran up behind her.

"Kage what the hell are you doing? She needs medical attention!"

"That's what I'm here for." She knelt by Keiko and laid a hand on her forehead and the other on her stomach. A glow began on the black-and-white girl's forehead, in the shape of a star, and Keiko began to heal, slowly.

"No…" a whispered, disbelieving noise slipped from Kurama. Even Hiei's eyes widened, though almost imperceptibly. He would never have admitted that he was surprised, but this shocked him greatly. Yusuke was ignoring Kage as he held his best friend's hand. Suddenly Kage stumbled backward, almost falling over as Kurama caught her shoulders.

"Hey, whoa, are you alright?" he looked concerned as he searched her face for clues.

"Yeah…I'm okay, but that's all I can do for now. An evil karma surrounds her, and it is hard to penetrate. She shouldn't die immediately, but I'd still call the hospital and tell them she's been attacked. A burglary, maybe?"

"Alright." Kurama walked to Keiko's downstairs phone, and began telling the emergency operator what had happened, with some major revisions.

While he was doing that, Yusuke walked over to Kage.

"Thank you so much. But you know, I have a question."

"Typical, Yusuke. Don't even let me say you're welcome. Anyway, go ahead." She rolled her eyes as she said this.

"What kind of demon are you?" As he spoke, she mouthed the words with him. It wasn't as if she didn't know what he was going to ask, anyway.

"I'm guessing Unicorn, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I mean, I heard they were extinct. But still, that's what I'm guessing is at least part of it. I think there's something else, too, though, because I'm not nice all the time, like I heard Unicorns are." She looked like she had practiced this speech and gave it all the time, although with her eyes no one could really be sure. "Anyway, I have to go. I am NOT going to be here when the ambulance arrives." Her eyes flashed.

"Um, okay. Thanks, though!"

As she slipped through the door, she turned and winked. It was quite unnerving, actually, with her eyes. "For what, the quarters?" She slipped out the door to avoid further questioning, and closed it soundlessly behind her.

Yusuke was baffled. "What in the --? What did she mean? I mean I know I owe her 50 cents from the arcade, but…"

Kurama, having gotten off the phone, walked over. "I believe it was her way of saying, 'keep it quiet'," the redhead explained, but his mind was elsewhere. He knew she was part Unicorn, whether she admitted it or not. The odd part was that he didn't know what the other part was. It was familiar, but he couldn't tell quite what it was. Something extremely powerful, and he didn't quite understand that he hadn't met one in his past life as Yoko. He also got the feeling of flight, and dark power. Why a Unicorn would mate with something as dark as this, he didn't understand.

The ambulance pulled up and loaded Keiko onto a stretcher. Leaving Yusuke to ride with her and answer questions this time, he began to walk home, worried about his family. Hopefully they were only attacking closely related people, or they forgot about his family. He also worried about Kage and her friends, Allie and Ryu. He resolved not to let them get hurt because of the Reiki Tantei's problem.

Kurama jogged the rest of the way home, apprehension building in his heart. Something was wrong, he could almost smell it, and it made his nose itch. However, upon reaching the Minamino house, he sensed nothing out of order, and all auras were safe. There was also no smell of blood. He was walking to the back of his house to enter through the window – it would not fit to walk into his house all bloody – when he sensed a portal.

_What the hell? What's a portal doing here?_ He ran back and looked cautiously around the corner of his house, hiding himself in the creeping ivy.

He saw blood patter onto the ground, not human…

He saw a hand emerge first, then a body. The body of Kage's friend, Ryu.

She fell out of the portal and hit the ground with a slump, saturating the ground beneath her upon impact.

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Far away, in the dark, a deep voice said evilly, "Happy Birthday, Suuichi. Like your present?"


	4. Ryu?

Okay, I have to hurry, sorry it didn't come out yesterday, I'm late, I don't own them, I'll respond to the last reviews in the next chapter.

I have to go to school, so…

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Hiei could smell blood. Again he began running toward the source, thinking sourly, _this is really getting old._

Arriving on his destination, Hiei rolled his eyes, although on the inside, he was slightly worried. The girl was one he didn't recognize, with long, black and red hair matted with blood. The wounds were getting much easier to recognize: bombs all over. She must've had a run in with Karasu. The question was, why was she in the kitsune's driveway?

Kurama glanced up as the Koorime zipped toward him. He then focused yet again on the unmoving form in the driveway, and stepped closer when she moaned. He stopped, however, when she lifted a hand to forehead and pushed herself upward into a sitting position, groaning. Even Hiei's eyebrows disappeared under the bandana warding his Jagan.

"Ow." She held a hand to her forehead and opened her tightly clenched eyes. She looked at the blood pouring out of her open wounds, and let out a surprising, "What the hell? Well now, that's mildly disgusting."

Kurama, after first having a bit of a shock seeing her move with all the injuries, walked over and knelt beside her.

"My name is Kurama Minamino. I live in this house." He looked at Hiei. "This is Hiei Jaganshi. Hiei, do you, by any "chance", have any bandages?" He was mockingly polite.

"What do you think, fox?" The black-cloaked Koorime dropped a bundle of cloths into the girl's lap. The red haired teen picked them up and began bandaging her.

"What the hell did he mean when he called you fox? I mean you look more like a pansy to me."

The boys exchanged looks. Kurama muttered out of the side of his mouth, "Oh, great…"

"What do you mean 'great'? Dude I just insulted you, you're not supposed to say 'great'!"

The red-haired boy appeared to be thinking quickly. "I'll explain about the whole fox thing later. First, how is it that you sustained these injuries?"

"Oro?" Her eyes were blank, and she was clearly baffled. "Man, those are big words. Listen, pansy, I. Don't. Speak. Nerd. Got it?"

Hiei chuckled. "What the fox is _trying_ to say is, 'how did you get hurt'." He gave Kurama a look that clearly said, The onna has a point.

"Oh. Well, why didn't he just say so?" The girl sat back to explain a looong story.

Flashback:

Ryu was walking through the woods, near Genkai's shrine, and she was completely absorbed in her headphones. Apparently a song ended, and her eyes open. It takes her a moment to realize that she has no idea where she is.

"What the hell?" Realization dawns, and she scowls. "Dammit, not again, don't tell me I got lost AGAIN!"

Her eyes locked forward as she detected a presence, clothed in black. It was a ways away, and seemed to have a cape, going down to his knees. He also had…antenna? She followed him, and soon saw a girl in a blue kimono, with blue hair, heading toward them. She also had crimson eyes. Ryu registered this because it was something she didn't see too often, that is, unless she looked in the mirror. She saw about four other guys circling the girl.

She shivered. Damn, it was cold. Shaking her head, she brought herself back to the situation at hand. What were those guys – oh, eww… a possible situation arose in her mind, and it grossed her out. She did NOT approve of rapes. She stepped out of the cover of the bushes that she had been in, and stepped in front of the creepy blue girl.

She poked the men in turn. "Hey, you…Gas Mask Freak! Straggly Hair! Um…Dot, and…Tall-dude! Holy hell! Dude you really need to lay off the steroids. You should back off. I can tell she isn't interested with freaks who just escaped from the circus!"

The "gas mask freak" steeped out from behind the tree. "Ah, now this is interesting. Let's have some fun, shall we?" he said, smirking. All the others had the exact same look in their eyes.

"Oh, Fuck. You have GOT to be kidding me." She stuck her tongue out, but suddenly tasted blood as she gritted her teeth at the searing pain in her lower body. Looking down, she saw holes all over her body – giant, gaping, fleshy holes.

Her last thought before "dot" kicked her in the head and she lost all consciousness was, _What, is there a minefield here?_ Then she saw a boot coming toward her head, thought, _Oh, shit,_ felt screaming pain through her head, and –

Darkness.

End flashback.

Hiei's eyes were wide when she opened hers. She registered for the first time that they, too, were crimson. _Wow, I'm meeting a lot of red-eyed people these days,_ she thought.

"Yukina," the Koorime whispered.

"Go. I'll be alright here." That was the "fox". Next time Ryu looked over, she didn't see anything other than a black blur.

"Hey, where'd the Goth kid go?"

"To save Yukina."


	5. No! Yukina!

Yukina screamed when Karasu stepped out from behind the tree. The Quest Class demon and his friends had haunted her dreams periodically ever since the Dark Tournament, and now they were coming true. Not a good thing.

She screamed even louder when the girl in front of her collapsed, a bloody mess. She caught the falling body, and her eyes started to glow as she cooled the ground and air a round her. Not that it would do much, but she still had to try.

She was right, it didn't do anything. Karasu stepped forward and grabbed the injured girl, throwing her into a portal, which seemingly came out of nowhere. It closed, and he chuckled. "Happy Birthday, Suuichi. Like your present?" he growled.

Yukina gasped, but she was glad they were sending the girl to Kurama's instead of keeping her for torture.

"Please! What do you want?"

Karasu held out some shining silver handcuffs. "Why don't you come with us, and then we won't hurt your dear, dear brother," he said tauntingly.

"What?" her eyes widened. "You know where my brother is?"

"Yes, we do. And if you don't come with us, we'll kill him, just like – that." He made a gesture that sickly reminded her of the "Bang" thread to Kurama at the Dark Tournament, and grossed her out just as much.

"No! Don't hurt him!" she screamed, taking a few steps toward him.

"Just come with us, and he won't be hurt at all. Who knows, maybe we'll even tell you who he is," he said, his sly voice deepening below his mask.

"I – alright…" she put her hands out for the 'cuffs, but was stopped when a deep voice growled, "She is not going anywhere with you."

"H-Hiei?"

"Hn."

"B-but Hiei, I have to go, or they'll hurt my brother!"

"She's right, Hiei," purred Karasu. How a slimy reptile like him could purr I do not know, but he managed it. "We will hurt her brother. You know that, _don't you_?"

"Are you sure? I might not stand for that." Hiei smirked evilly.

"Hiei, Please! They'll hurt him!" She looked completely distraught as Hiei stepped in front of her with one hand over his sword.

"No. They won't."

"But how would –"

"He would try, and believe he could stop us from hurting him, because he IS your brother!" That was Karasu, provoking Hiei to murder (as if he didn't already want to do that…)

Hiei growled and sped forward, bringing his sword toward Karasu's neck, but was thrown backward as he tried to slice through a bomb. Unfortunately, it was not as compliant as a simple demon neck; it exploded and sent him flying into a nearby tree, narrowly missing Yukina, wincing as pain arose in his shoulders and knees. Looking down he saw Elder Toguro's fingers pinning him to the tree. Yukina rushed toward him, and, her small hands wrapped around one of the fingers, she began to tug.

"Yukina," Hiei whispered, "run."

However, Elder Toguro had other plans, and wrapped another finger around Yukina, holding her to the side. "Ah, but she just can't do that!" he cackled, sounding like a two year old with a new toy.

"Fine." Hiei's right arm began to crackle with dark energy. The other demons looked unperturbed. Wondering about this for a moment, he pushed it to the back of his mind as the rest of the bandages crinkled, charred in a burst of black flame.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" He released the dark energy toward Karasu, but Sensui (A.N.: QueenofAngstyFics, wasn't it you who wanted to know who "Dot" was? Well there you go! Mr. Dot has made an appearance…) stepped in front, and, lifting his leg, he used his patented kick (the one with the energy ball? I'm drawing a blank. Blockbuster, or something?) on the dragon. Hiei and Yukina watched in horror as the dragon crackled, surrounded by the yellow light of Sensui's aura, roared with pain, and disappeared.

Ever since Hiei's fight with Bui, where he had bonded with the Dragon, he had felt a close connection with the spirit beast. Now, as it was destroyed, he felt it sap his energy as well. By the time it was done, he was slumped, unconscious, on the tree. Elder Toguro recoiled his fingers, and Hiei crashed to the ground, head first. Elder Toguro tightened his grip around Yukina, who was held above them like a flag.

They stepped through the portal in silence, smirking as one.


	6. Enter Allie now stop bugging me kenna

Okiedokie, here we are for another chapter. God I'm bad at updating. Sorry, people!

Anyway, my friends are writing some stories too and I told them I'd "advertise" them.

Ryu Shoku is writing a story, which has no name (she hasn't figured it out yet), and kennamenna (also Allie, in my story) is writing "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous".

Anyway, there you go, (insert standard disclaimer), on with the story.

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Mr. Takenaka looked up as a street punk stormed into the classroom.

"Dammit, Urameshi! What the hell are you doing?" She approached him with a raised fist.

"A-Allie?" he asked uncertainly. His emotions were written clearly on his face: _What did I do this time?_

"Why are you just sitting here? Your friend is hurt and you're not doing anything about it!"

It took no time at all for that statement to sink in. "What! Who's hurt?"

"The thief of course! What, do I have injuries? It's not me, dumbass, and no one else around here is stupid to get in a fight with an S-class! Well, except him…"

"Um…which thief?" The teacher was staring by now, but Yusuke had to ask, on account of having two accomplices who weren't hurt, both being thieves. Even though Kurama's normal label was "kitsune" or "fox", he just couldn't see Hiei getting hurt. It just didn't happen.

"Well, let's see…Voorime…red eyes…black and white hair…black cloak…black pants…white belt…blue shirt…kantana…Dragon of the Darkness Flame…TOP OF THE MOST WANTED LIST?"

"He's still up there? I thought Koenma –" he broke off, shaking his head. "So wait, Hiei is hurt?"

"Yes, you idiotic LOSER! Now get your stupid ass out of your frikkin' chair and follow me!"

"Okay. I don't like history much anyway."

Mr. Takenaka was too shocked to scold them for ditching. Besides, it wasn't like Yusuke's grad could drop because of it. He soon got over his amazement and started droning about the Bakmatsu again. Soon he was in full lecture mode, and had forgotten all about Yusuke and his girlfriend.

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Ryu opened her eyes slowly from where she had been resting, turning to the crimson-haired boy sitting at the desk.

"Um…Ow, that looked painful."

"What's wrong, Ryu?" Emerald eyes rose to meet hers.

"Your gothic friend is hurt."

"What?" he looked alarmed. Realizing what he had said, the girl once claimed to have borderline schizophrenia quickly tried to amend her mistake.

"Uh…I mean – did I say that out loud? It was just…a DREAM! Yeah! Dream, that's it, just a dream…" she laughed nervously.

She was taken aback, however, as the boy called "fox" sniffed the air twice, and looked at her again, even more alarmed now. "No, you're correct. I'm sorry, miss, I have to go, but you're welcome to stay here."

"What? Stay here? Not going to happen! I'm going with you, whether you like it or not!"

"Miss, if Hiei has gotten hurt, it is very serious. I'll need to go alone."

"I don't think so you pansy red haired freak. Like I said, I'm going with you like it or not." She began to gather the bandages, quickly, as if she knew what she was doing.

"Fine. But if there is a fight, I must ask you to stay out of it."

Pouting, she grudgingly had to admit that probably was a good idea. With her injuries, she'd probably just slow him down. That was, IF he could fight. She refused to believe that this pretty-boy fairy princess could do anything until she saw him in action. That short boy, though…she was surprised he had gotten hurt. Well, looks aren't everything…

Damn, that completely contradicted what she'd said earlier about the redhead. Oh, hell, SHE knew what she was talking about, even if no one else did.

Finishing the packing of the medical bag, she stood up and marched out of the door, glaring at the pretty boy who wanted to stop her from fighting. She WOULD get back at him for that…

Stepping out onto the street, she surprised Kurama by dashing off toward to the forest at what was his top speed, calling out, "KAGE!" on the way.

Sprinting after her, a ringing voice filled his mind, answering with, "Yes, Ryu, what is it?"

"Get the hell out here, psychic, we've got problems."

"Yes, ma'am, but would you rather I came to meet you or healed this person?" her voice was cynic and sarcastic. She already knew the answer, no matter what Ryu said.

"Um…what person, Kyoki?" Her brow was furled as she tried to decide if the person was important enough to keep healing, or if Kage should drop him and come heal the Goth.

"Don't know his name – what did you think I did, take his wallet?"

"Well, that's what I would have done! _Anyway,_" she said quickly, so she could avoid the imminent lecture, "what does he look like?"

"Um…black everything! That is, except his skin."

"So, what, he's like a darker you?"

"No, more color than that. He has a black cloak, black spiky hair with a white star, but a blue shine. Oh, and a white bandana."

"That's him!"

"That's…who…?"

"The Goth kid I was gonna have you find! Stay there!" Just before the connection was cut, Kage could hear a distinctive "thump" and curse words from two origins. Deciding Allie would be there too, she directed her energy toward healing the boy. Damn dark energy, blocking her powers…

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"Dammit bitch, watch where you're going!"

"You watch it, you frikkin' slut!"

"I am not a slut, you whore!"

"Um…Ryu? Your eyes are switching. Calm down, it's me, Allie."

It was true, Ryu's eyes had started to "switch". The red was getting darker, and the pupils lighter. Given enough time, she would sprout wings, horns, claws, and a tail, and have black eyes with red pupils. She would then start a killing frenzy, remembering nothing once she woke up, leaving Allie and Kage with the cleanup. They would have explained it, but she didn't know of demons, so she had no idea what was going on, and it was too complicated to explain.

"Uh…Allie? Oh, all right, I'll calm down. The Goth kid's hurt."

"Yes, I know, Ryu. Let's go." She sprinted off, still dragging the spirit detective behind her, bouncing and scraping on the pavement. He growled and yelled the whole time, to the amusement of the Kitsune following behind.

Ryu was forced to slow down and follow the rest of the group when they reached the forest, only knowing he was in the forest from her vision, not having an inkling of a clue where in the forest he was. Allie took the lead, still dragging her Yusuke-sled. Kurama followed close behind.

They entered a clearing to see Hiei still lying on the ground, bleeding. He could still die if he was left this way too long, but his wounds weren't overly fatal, especially for a demon. What bothered Allie was Kage. She was leaning against a tree, her large, unnerving eyes half-lidded, and she looked exhausted. She looked up when the group entered the clearing.

"Oh, good, you're here," she said sleepily, as if it was an effort to stay awake. "Damn dark energy, can't break through it."

"Ah, of course." Kurama walked forward and reached into Hiei's pocket and pulled out a mass of bandages.

"How the hell did he fit those into his pocket?" asked an intrigued Ryu.

"We may never know. Now," he said, turning to the group, "who here can sense portals?"

Yusuke and Allie raised their hands.

"Alright, so can I. Ryu, you use these and the bandage pack you had earlier to fix up Hiei." They started off, the three portal sensors already knowing exactly where to go.

"Wha – hey – wait! Dammit, where'd they go?" Sighing, she turned. "Okay, Kage, time to bandage up the – Kage?" She saw her friend had fainted against the tree from energy loss. "Dammit!"

She began bandaging.

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Voorime Fire apparition in Japanese

Kyoki Crazy in Japanese

Ok, people, please R+R!


	7. I'm running out of chapter names

Hey again everyone…I don't own the Yu Yu Hakusho group, but did you really think I did? I think I've been saying this a lot on this story…

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A crackle in the bush. Someone was stepping on the sticks and dry leaves. Whirling, Allie found herself face to face with ---

Nothing. The forest was clear of any humanoid forms. Shaking her head, she decided that it must be a squirrel or something, and continued on her way. To her left, there was a giant crash, some stumbling, bunches of breaking branches, and swear words, but that was to be expected: Yusuke was there. Just the fact that he was anywhere near meant it was loud.

Yusuke. She had never thought anyone could intrigue her as much as the teenage Ma-Zoku. He was sweet, beneath all his bluster, and even when his eyes were narrowed into a death-glare the warm chocolate orbs shone with intelligence and beauty. She knew she would never meet another like him, as long as she lived.

She tore her thoughts off of the teenage Ma-Zoku in favor of searching for the source of the crackling. It hadn't stopped, as she'd expected, but instead had gotten even closer.

Not assured anymore that there was nothing there, she set the disturbing thoughts to the back of her mind, swished her hair around in the sunlight, and continued her search, although she was sure by now that there was nothing. Unless the portal was made by a high A-class demon or higher, which wasn't likely, she should be able to trace the residue of it all through the forest.

She jumped again, turning at a large SNAP of branches, and was shocked to see someone behind her (finally!). The man was tall, clothed in blackish-green spandex, was wearing a gas mask, and seemed to have antennae. He raised a hand, fingers spread-eagled dangerously, as Allie quickly dropped one hand to her boot one to her purse, and pulled out two small but lethal guns from their restraints. Not taking time to aim, she lifted the pistols and pulled the trigger, trusting the bullets to meet their mark.

And they did. They pierced right next to each other, straight through the demon's heart. Allie loved the sound of the last, ragged breaths of a gunshot victim, so she always used silencers. However, it was too quiet this time. No rasping breath or thump as the lifeless body saturated the ground with its crimson blood. This time, however, there was just a slight sucking sound as the demon stuck a finger into each wound and slipped out the bullets, then two plinks as the bullets dropped to the ground. They rolled maybe a centimeter, and then lay still, still as the dead, still as the fucking demon SHOULD have been! Not fair!

"Hey, not fair! You're supposed to be dead!"

"Sorry, guess I'm not really good at following the rules," he said, in a rounded voice filled with malice. He punctuated his statement by summoning a glowing green orb in front of his hand. Allie quickly lifted a pistol, took aim, and clenched the trigger.

The orb exploded violently as the cartridge ripped through it. Setting of a backlash effect, it whipped her backward into a nearby tree. How convenient. Now she had nice pillow to flop back on.

Or maybe not so nice…

She hit first with her back, so the first shock was to her spine. However, then her neck snapped forward, rebounded against her chest, and flew back into the tree, splitting it in half.

Sometimes she hated super strength.

Lifting her hands for another shot, she found she had no guns.

Dammit, water was too hard to work with, and punching would get her too close to the Quest Class Demon and his bombs.

This was so humiliating!

Tilting back her head, she screamed, "Um….Little help here?"

The demon in front of her stared in disbelief.

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However, her friends were not easily torn away from their current activities: fighting for their lives.

The Toguros grinned evilly as Allie screamed. "It seems Karasu has found his prize," cackled Ani (The older one, I think).

"Yes, brother. Hopefully he's having fun. That _was_ part of his contract," mused Otto (the younger Toguro?).

"What the hell! If he's hurt her…!" started Yusuke.

"I'm sure he has. Now Yusuke, what are you going to do about it?" Otto seemed to be having fun as he dug Yusuke's face into the ground. Yusuke growled, but then heard a sharp crack that he was sure was his skull, and his whole world went black.

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Kurama was also fighting when the plea hit his ears, but only barely, and at this, as if to ensure that Kurama didn't become stronger because of the cry (do I sense fear, Sensui?), he kicked his glowing energy ball thingy (name, if you know it, please?) into Kurama's stomach, adding yet another gaping hole. His world faded quickly, to his dismay, no matter how hard he tried to hole it in focus.

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Ryu looked up, startled. She had been in the middle of cursing out the boy for not carrying a wallet when she heard the scream. Stopping with "Stupid son of a camel!" she promptly ran toward to the sound. As for the "stupid son of a camel" and the "loco psychic", well, if they couldn't protect themselves, then they weren't worth her time.

So she ran off toward Allie, leaving the Voorime and they Psychic unconscious, to the mirth of the blue-haired, nine-foot tall menace lurking close by in the trees.


	8. goth, gold, and dr ditz to the rescue

Chapter 8 (finally!)

I know I took forever to get this chapter out! I'm sorry, please don't kill me! It seems like it was just yesterday that I put out the last one . Plus (or minus) I had to take the P.S.A.T. today I hate math!

Anyway you probably don't care, so on with the sucky story.

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"Dammit Allie why the hell did you have to get hurt your fucking ass is always in the way!" Ryu jogged toward the yell, her slumbering companions still slumped against the tree.

Arriving in the clearing, she saw a bemused "Gas-mask-freak" blocking lightning-fast blows from Allie, her eyes narrowed in anger and frustration. He was only using one hand, and, surprisingly, the hand wasn't splintering into pieces by now.

"Wow, Allie, fast," said Ryu sarcastically.

"You know what, shove it up your ass and get the hell out of here, Ant!"

"What the hell I could do better than that!"

"You fucking dumbass! When I called for help I was hoping for someone who could fight, not my oblivious best friend!"

"Fucking shut up you little bitch I know way more than you could ever hope to imagine you little whore so stop yelling at me before I fucking grind your ass into the ground and make your brains into jelly!"

"Shut UP! YOU'RE WEAK!"

"I can fight Dammit, and you better believe it you frikking loser!"

"No you can't! You're just a stupid, defenseless, ningen-like pretender, a wannabe youkai who can't fight to save her stupid lard-ass!"

"Um…youkai?" this stopped the whole argument on the grounds that Ryu had no idea what Allie was talking about. Meanwhile, Allie had stopped trying to kill Karasu, so he stood to the side, leaning nonchalantly against a tree with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes youkai! Dammit you're slow!"

"Um…………."

"Will you get off your fucking ass and move! Get the hell out of here you are no match for this damn demon!"

"I can and I will, so shut the fuck up you little gold bitch!" with this the raven-haired girl slammed her toes into the ground and sped forward, above human speeds, but still way below the speed of the crow demon or even of Allie.

"Get back!" screamed Allie, but it was too late. Karasu raised one perfectly controlled hand and sliced it downward, almost splitting air molecules as it went, a flurry of green orbs falling down upon the teenage girl.

This was definitely going to mess up her hairdo.

Screaming in pain, Ryu lifted her now ever-so-heavy hands and felt a warm liquid flowing out in such a manner that she could not stop it even if she had stayed awake long enough to clamp both hands down on the holes in her head. She didn't even worry about the rips in her back.

Behind her, Allie screamed as yet more of the crow demon's explosives surrounded her and connected with her tender flesh, robbing her of her consciousness as well.

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Bui chuckled as he heard the screamed conversation, stepping forward at the same time. None too gently he scooped up the Voorime and slung him in the crushing grip of his elbow. Never would he forgive the short bastard for humiliating him in front of the rest of the demonic populace. The stupid half-breed would DIE.

Slipping his hand beneath the abdomen of the psychic, he was only slightly gentler as he dropped the fragile girl on his shoulder. She murmured something unintelligible and her hands flapped down do the small of his back.

He could feel psychic energy growing. What the hell?

His back erupted in pain and he couldn't move. The girl, who was now completely free of restraints, slid down his back, doing a flip and landing gracefully behind him on two feet, kneeling, fingers brushing the earth as she stood up.

There was Hiei's face, right in front of hers. He was still unconscious. And still stuck in the crook of Bui's arm.

Walking in front to the paralyzed giant, she placed a firm hand on each ankle and tugged.

And tugged.

And tugged.

………

"Dammit you short bastard wake up!" screamed the black and white reject.

Sighing, she put one hand behind his head, holding him up by his hair. The other was raised for a strike.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey" she muttered grimly as she brought down the hand.

Straight onto the soft area beneath the bandage.

However, the consequences were not what she had imagined. Yes, his crimson eyes opened past the human limit, and yes, a small sound escaped his lips.

But then he disappeared with a black swish.

"Um…never knew you could dissapea---AAH!" was Kage's reaction.

She was on the ground at Bui's feet, the tip of cold steel biting into her neck. She could feel a trickle of blood pooling at her feet. _Oh, great. This is fantastic! Goody two shoes! Not only will he kill me he'll see my blood too! Let's have a fucking tea party to celebrate!_

It was true, Hiei was slightly distracted by the unnerving silver blood with black swirls, but most of his attention was on the baka onna.

"If you ever touch me again, you will die," he said without any bloodlust in his voice. It wasn't a threat. It was a fact.

"Uh…yes, sir, but did you really WANT me to leave you there in the giant's grasp and run away like a coward? Not that I'm not one, but still…" she trailed off.

"Hn." He sheathed his sword and walked off. Presumably he knew where he was going, but Kage didn't, and this bothered her.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked oh-so-politely.

Hiei spared no words for the useless onna, just kept walking, although he did turn to glare at her once, for about half a second.

"Okay, fine, Mr. Grumpy-pants!" Kage pointed out, stalking after him.

The clearing he led to contained a bleeding Ryu and Allie.

Running to Ryu's side, she kneeled by her friend. "Ryu-Chan! Are you okay?" You'd think that a psychic in the profession of healing people would know a wound when she saw one, but no, apparently this goody-good had been working with her eyes closed. Either that or she simply had no idea what was going on or what she was doing. Wait, I just said that, didn't I?

Hiei stalked over to the crow demon that was still (lemme guess…) standing against the tree, though his eyebrows had raised maybe a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a millimeter. Man it's hard to intimidate this guy…

About to get ready to attack, the Voorime almost screamed at the clueless girl as she yelled across to her (also hurt) friend in the gold.

"Allie-kun, get up, Ryu's hurt!"

"Yeah-no fuckin' shit, you clueless bitch!" Allie said, her eyes and jaw still clenched from the pain.

"Oh, Allie-kun, are you hurt too?" Inwardly Kage was beating herself up nonstop for talking like this. She knew both of them were hurt, had known it even before they had seen Karasu, known that they would get badly injured in this battle. Unfortunately, she had not seen that she would act this dorky – she might have been able to prevent it if she had. Still, she had started on this path, and since she had no more healing power left (stupid Jagan!) all she could really do was make herself look like an idiot, right?

Hiei finally got fed up. In an icy cold voice that sent shivers through the already defenseless teenage (?) girl, he said softly, "Shut up, unless you want me to remove your voice box and your head along with it."

She shrank into the tree, eyes wide.

Hiei turned to the Quest class demon. "Now, Karasu, time to finish this."

Ryu jumped up with surprising agility for a person who moments ago had been facedown on the floor with blood flowing out of her skull. "Hell, no, this is MY fight!"

"What the hell." – Hiei.

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Okiedokie so that's it, and here's the stupid cliffhanger: What will the Goth princess, gold foil girl, and ditzy doctor do this time to try to "Pull a Kurama" (slang for suicide)?

R&R, please, peoples!

-Kage


	9. Toguro and Kage know eachother?

Okay…well, no first draft of this, so I hope it comes out okay…

QueenofAngstyfics: I go to Downieville School. There are 80 kids from grades K-12. It sucks. It only teaches two languages, and neither of them are Japanese – cry. They only teach Spanish and German, and the English teacher and the History teacher teach them. I'm in the 9th grade too, though…

Hiei rox…: no, I'm not gonna burst her bubble, Kenna.

KarmenJade: That'll be cool!

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"Uh…Ryu…I really don't think you're up to it…" Kage stuttered.

"Shut up, freak!"

"She has a point," added Allie

"Thank you! Finally you believe me!" said Ryu with an exasperated sigh.

"I wasn't talking to you," Allie said despairingly. This was going absolutely nowhere!

Ryu was about to respond when a cold voice cut through her thoughts. "Step back," was all Hiei had to say to get his threat across. Step back or be killed.

"Dammit out of my way!" screamed the irate Goth Princess, once again trying to charge the crow.

"This gets so tedious," muttered Karasu as he brought his hand down once again, in exactly the same manner as he had before.

"Stop insulting me, dammit!" shouted Ryu.

"How is it you're still talking, fool?" asked Karasu, a bit shocked. Looking, he saw a giant crater, made from his bombs. And, yes, the girl was in his face. She had dived away from the bombs, though how she had done it he would probably never know.

Pain erupted from the middle of Karasu's face. He heard a crunch. The damn girl had punched him. HIM. In the nose. It was off to the side, almost obscuring his vision on the left side. And it REALLY hurt!

Oops, here comes another fist…there. Karasu grabbed the fist with his long, bony fingers and twisted, quickly. The girl's whole arm twisted, and then her shoulder. Her head was soon ducked into her side as her body tried to follow the spiraling pattern. That was a good position. He let go.

Her shoulder crashed into the ground, slamming her neck sideways. Unfortunately, with the growl that emitted from Hiei, and the gasps from the weak girls, he couldn't hear the crack of separating vertebrae. But he knew it was there, so he didn't worry.

Slipping a hand toward his nose, he healed it without any trouble at all. There. No more messy red stuff rolling down his mouth.

"Die, Karasu," said Hiei coldly.

"My, we do seem worried. I hope you didn't have something…important…with the girl."

"I'll kill you just to have some peace and quiet," said the Voorime, disappearing in a flash of cloak.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't let you do that!" It started out as a statement, whispered, in fact, but ended with a snarl as Karasu's claws narrowly blocked a strike to his neck. Eyes squinted in concentration, he tried to track the small demon's progress.

Nothing.

Damn Jagan.

Karasu turned as he heard a crackle in the bushes. In fact, all of them did, even the inattentive wannabe doctor girl. There was the rest of the group, ready to leave, as soon as these weaklings would accept that playtime was over. Bui was standing with Kurama under one arm and Yusuke under the other, ready to take the rest of them, too. Ever since his loss to the Koorime, he had been dubbed a workhorse, and not given high assignments. Neither had Karasu, really, but he was working for Sensui now, not Toguro. Bui had been stupid to go back to Toguro when Sensui had given him the chance for a new life. Now he was a packhorse.

Kage gasped when she saw the boys. "Yusuke!" she screamed in shock, then, in a heart-wrenched whisper, "Kurama."

Allie growled.

Ryu did nothing, seeing as she had fainted dead away.

Currently, we can't see Hiei.

Kage's eyes widened yet again as she turned her eyes onto the Toguros. Saying nothing, she looked down, then at Ryu. Taking the girl by the shoulders, she pulled her out of harm's way, if that was even possible anymore.

Toguro smirked. The wench recognized him. Good, this would serve them well. His older brother dropping off his shoulder, he walked up to the prodigy. Placing his thumb and forefinger beneath her chin, he lifted up gently.

Kage gasped and tried to wrestle her chin back down. "Let me go, you disgusting horse!" she protested through clenched jaws, unwittingly quoting Koto at the Dark Tournament.

"Oh, so you were watching the Tournament?" asked Toguro, his voice as silky as a disgusting muscleman like his could get. "What, wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt? I'm so glad you cared." Still, he purred, as if inviting her to follow the script.

"I haven't watched the Tournament for 54 years, and you know why I watched it then," hissed Kage.

"Ah, yes, you watched it because I was in it, how sweet of you."

"I watched it to see you dead! Unfortunately, they failed! I'll just have to find some other way to kill you now!"

"Oh, you don't mean that. You know I only asked for the power so I could be with you forever," Toguro goaded. Everyone else just watched the verbal debate, including Hiei who was stationed in a tree high above everyone else.

"You wanted the power for the reason everyone wants it: to be powerful. It had nothing to do with me, and you know it, you horrid piece of pinched-off turd." Still, although her voice was laced with the minefield of malice, it was a whisper, a threat. She, too, was baiting him toward a trap. The only question was who would fall in first.

"Didn't I prove my motives after the tournament?"

This had a shocking effect on Kage. She shook, tightened up, her arms locked into her body. Ryu's head slid from the tentative perch on Kage's lap to the ground. Kage's whole stature was forced, she was shaking; she probably would have curled into a ball if it hadn't been for Toguro's death grip on her chin. Her eyes were wide with fear, showing white even around the black area at the top. Her skin got even paler than normal (is that possible?).

Slowly, carefully, Toguro ran his hand through a lock of her hair. His fingers brushed her chin as they ran past.

Kage's disturbing eyes rolled back, and her world went black, in contrast to her eyes, which were now completely white, while her body was still as rigid as humanly – demonly (?) – possible. After a few seconds, however, she unclenched and slumped to the ground, all muscles slack, next to Ryu.

Getting fed up, Older Toguro went over to the barely awake Allie. "Sleepy time, little girl," he hissed.

"What did you do to her?" demanded Allie.

A blow on the head so sound that it reverberated against her skull answered her inquiry. Like the rest, she slumped against the tree.

Sensui formed a Double Ryshuiken (name and spelling? I think that's what they called it, but my friend is borrowing my DVD…) and aimed it straight at Hiei. With its speed, it made a direct hit, although no one could be sure if he actually fainted or if it was just easier to follow them as a captive.

Scooping up the unconscious demons, Bui (the packhorse) walked through Sensui's portal to who knows where.

--------------------------------------------------------------And now I'm going to end it, mainly because I have to go (my friend just got here, and she wants me off the computer, like normal). So please review, and tell me what you think!


	10. Kage's dream

Okay, wow, I've been updating a lot lately, haven't I? Don't answer that! I know! I'm horrible at updating! I'm sorry!

Anyway, please read and review.

Oh and thanks to all the people who reviewed! Especially QueenofAngstyfics! You've been reviewing since the beginning! Thank you so much!

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Ryu opened her eyes and stared at the cobwebs. She began counting the webs. What the hell, what am I doing, I don't care about stupid cobwebs! She thought angrily.

_Glad to know it._

Hiei? How the hell?

_Stop broadcasting your thoughts, onna._

Broadcasting my thoughts?

_Yes, onna. _

Fucking stop calling me an onna! What does that mean, anyway!

_Hn._

I need a translator! She sat up and looked around.

"Whoa. Weird forest…"

"…"

There were stones all around them. One window – crisscrossed with bars. Hiei was sitting on it, leaning against the thin glass, looking out. "Definitely a weird forest."

"Shut up, onna."

"Dammit stop calling me that you fucking shrimp!"

"I'm taller than you, so how am I a shrimp?"

"Shut up!"

"Both of you are short, get over it," said an annoyed voice from the corner. Allie sat there, head leaning back against the rocks, eyes half-closed.

"How long have you been awake?" asked Ryu suspiciously.

"Maybe if you looked around instead of staring at Hiei, you'd know!" she said, stressing the "Hiei" tauntingly.

"Shut the fuck up," said Ryu darkly, advancing on Allie.

"What? It's the truth."

"…" Unable to think up a comment, she took Allie's advice and looked around the cage or whatever the hell you called the jail they were stuck in, thanks to the packhorse.

Kurama was standing next to the door watching the dispute. Yusuke was sitting a few feet from Allie, one hand propped against his knee, his head in his hand, and he looked extremely bored. Kage was huddled in the corner closest to the door, watching, but slightly distant.

Oh yeah. There was something about a Dark Tournament that she had said she watched once. To watch steroid get killed. 54 years ago.

Hold up.

54 YEARS AGO?

She opened her eyes again. "What the fuck did you guys mean with the whole youkai thingy and the whole 54 YEARS AGO?" as if on afterthought, she added, "Man, Kage, you're really an old hag! I always said the white hair made you look old, but damn! How old _are_ you?"

"Um…over 600 years old, that I remember. I lost track."

"You lost fucking track! How the hell do you lose track of your own age?"

"Sorry, I paid careful attention to my age for the first hundred years. But you know how we old people are, we tend to stay 27 for a loooong time." She said with a half smirk, although her eyes were still slightly distant. Like she wasn't completely there. Oh what the hell! More pressing matters now!

"600 years…guys, I'm confused…will you please explain now?" said Ryu, sounding like she was _this far_ away from exploding.

"Um, no," was Allie's response, followed by, "too difficult."

"Hn." _Guess who!_

"Um…do we have to?" said the ever-polite Kurama.

"I dunno, I still don't understand, and I'm the king of demon world!"

"Yes, Ryu, we can," said Kage, still sounding distant. All this happened at the same time, but Ryu seemed to know what everyone was saying.

"Okay, then talk, you crazy bitch," she said without even thinking about it. Insults just came naturally to her. Wish we could say the same thing about Kage…

"Now, now, no insults," began Kage, "let's see…to begin, you are a demon. I don't know quite what type, something to do with Pyrokinetics. There are –"

"Hold on big word explain please come again?" Yusuke said, tripping over his own tongue in the process.

"Pyrokinetics. The power of fire." Seeing Yusuke's blank look, she pointed at Hiei. "Him."

"Oh! Fire apparition!"

"Yes. Now, moving on, there are three worlds, although one is split up a bit in the time sense. There's Ningenkai, or human world, Reikai, or spirit world, where God lives, and Makai, demon world, which also contains portals to the Feudal Era and the Bakmatsu period. Yusuke here is the Ma-zoku, newly appointed ruler of all of Makai," she went on, and in time explained everything, and I am too lazy to write it. If you don't know it then get some DVDs, dammit. Or write to me in a review, and I can recap.

"Any questions?" she finished brightly, although still distant.

"Oro?" asked a blank Ryu.

"Um…Oh, hell figure it out yourself," said Kage thoroughly fed up.

"Wow, Kage, you swore, didn't think it was possible," said Allie.

"Yes, so what?" she asked, not using any of her…_unique_…insults, such as gold-girl or lion eyes.

"Oh, nothing…"

"So, I work with fire," said Ryu, a scheming tone creeping into her voice. "Sounds like fun."

"Wait a minute, Kage, she doesn't _just_ work with fire, I mean, what about her whole flipping out thing?" asked Allie.

"I don't know, alright?" asked Kage. She sounded really tired and frustrated.

"Kage, how do you know Toguro?" asked Yusuke bluntly. No working up to the point for him, no, let's just ask straight out, why don't we.

Kage shrank into the corner, huddling into the unforgiving rock.

"Ooh, must have been a bad incident…Oh, fuck it, I wanna know!" said the oblivious Ma-zoku.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Kage in a small voice.

"Alight then."

Kage turned her head away from the group and closed her eyes. She was asleep in a matter of minutes – severe energy loss. It'll do that to you.

Kage's dream:

I'm running. Not again. I won't let him catch me again. PLEASE don't let him catch me again.

I chance a look behind me. There he is, not even out of breath. Bastard.

Only ten feet behind me. No. He won't catch me again! Please! I can't take this any more!

Oh no, he caught up.

He pushed me into the brambles to the left of the path.

"Why are you running, little girl?" he asked as he began to tear at my clothes. He ran a hand through my hair, brushing his knuckles against my check as he did so.

Kage jerked out of the dream, shaking, curled into a ball and pressing against the rock behind her. Calming her breathing, she listened carefully. Footsteps. A key turning in the rock. The door creaked open.

And in stepped the younger Toguro.

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There you go well please read and review. Actually, that's pretty redundant putting that at the end of the chapter isn't it…whatever, please review!

-Kage


	11. Hi, Yukina

Hello again…

Oh and I've been forgetting: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Not as if you didn't know that, but whatever. Still, one question: If I owned it, why would Kurama or Hiei ever get hurt? Figure that out, will you?

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Toguro walked into the cell and looked around. Hiei was at the window, but there was no surprise there. The midget liked to look tall when he sat. Kurama was sitting against the wall, asleep, but in perfect posture all the same. Yusuke was slumped in the corner, chin touching his chest. The Allie girl was curled up on the stone floor, hugging herself. Ryu, the oh-so-pretty Ryu, looked to have fallen asleep standing up, and then fallen down at some point while she slept – she was almost exactly face first in the dirt, head in the middle of the ground. A faint snore emitting from her throat was the only reminder that she was alive. And Kage. Beautiful, terrified Kage. She was huddling in the corner, pressed up against the unforgiving stone of the cell wall. Didn't she understand that he wouldn't hurt her? That he had never hurt her, it was just those disgusting threads of humanity she clung to so dearly that dictated that because of his actions, he must be a monster. Didn't she understand that demons didn't live that way? Or, more importantly, that her species was even less "dignified" in ningen terms than demons? Didn't she know that he had behaved according to her law? Or at least, that he had adhered to the law of her people?

She really was a sight, pale skin surrounded by iridescent, flowing white hair with luminous streaks of ebony black separating it from the creamy skin of her face. Her full, black lips stood out below the small nose, but her eyes dominated the face, being at least three inches tall, gradating from the darkest black seen in Ningenkai, Reikai, or Makai, but not even showing the bottom of the eyes towards the lower lids, as the black faded away, leaving not a hint of irises or pupils. Her long lashes were framed by identical demon markings originating from her lower lids, running like curved tracks of tears down her cheeks, and stopping in points about an inch and a half lower. She had smudges of dirt all over, but she was still beautiful. There was no way to stop her beauty.

All this was thought in about half a second, as he already knew most of it, having noticed it over half a century ago. He had never forgotten.

Kage's thoughts, on the other hand, were a bit different. She picked out his faults as quickly and surely as he identified her beauty.

She quickly gave notice to the jutting collarbone, the protruding, bony neck surrounded by harsh muscles, and the impossibly large biceps. His arms were split into areas as though he were a cloth man sown together with balloons inside, which, had she not felt the harsh strength of his "balloons" first hand, she would believe her theory with the fervor of a dying person's will to believe that there is a weakness to the thing killing it. Not as though he had ever actually tried to kill her, but she remained cautious, never knowing what he would do next, therefore never letting down her guard. She saw his toes, wide, covered with gnarly toenails that were yellow and cracked toward the end. She saw his giant fingers, the fingers that may have known how to be gentle as a human, but as a demon, had lost that quality. Now they were used for brute force, for the "man's work" of brutality and killing, no majestic qualities were interlaced anymore with the short, stubby fingers.

She would have criticized him more, but he walked over with short, clipping steps on the stone floor, to Ryu. The unsuspecting demon had fallen asleep haphazardly in the middle of the floor, face down. It was so like Ryu that Kage would have laughed, had she not known where they were and what it would mean to them to be there. It was not good circumstances that she foresaw for the place they were in, nor for its inhabitants.

Slipping his hands into Ryu's glossy black hair, he grabbed her by the scalp and jerked her up.

Ryu cringed in pain as he dragged her out the door. Damn bastard wouldn't let go of her hair, he needed to let go, and dammit she wanted him to let go of her hair.

He pulled her out the door and slammed it, bolting it from the outside before he saw the shocked look on Kage's face. She was appalled that he would take the youngest member of their group.

A soft sound emitted from Kage's lips. "Ryu…" she whispered.

---------------------------------------------------In Yukina's Cell----------------------------------------

The door to Yukina's cell slammed. Yukina lifted her head, her azure hair stained red with blood pouring from a head wound. She also had a slash on her leg, but other than that, she was fine. Well, as fine as you can be when you're stuck in a dark, dank, cell, blood running everywhere, surrounded by criminals who wouldn't shrink from killing you, and you just learned that the brother you searched for all your life was right in front of your nose. Maybe she wasn't that all right after all.

Bui stepped in, muttering to himself about how he always had to do the dirty work.

"Girl. You're going to a different cell today, rejoice," he said in a voice that was filled with boredom and sarcasm.

The Koorime gasped lightly as he closed his giant hand around her delicate arm, pulling her roughly to her feet. Then, not letting her stand properly, she was dragged down the hall and to yet another rusty door. Bui lifted the bolt, pushed open the door, and shoved her in. He then slammed it shut and she could hear the deadbolt being slid into place. She stumbled forward and then fell to her knees, unable to put much weight at all on her injured leg. Looking up, she saw through her blue-green bangs an array of people, most she knew, and two she didn't.

Hiei sat on the windowsill. Apparently he had been staring expressionlessly over the city, but now he was looking at her in apparent shock and concern. A day before she would have wondered why the cold fire demon cared at all, but after the announcement that he was her brother, it was not that big a shock. Kurama was standing beside the door in his normal pose, staring at her as well and starting forward to help her up. Yusuke was sitting in the corner, and beside him was one of the girls she didn't know. Apparently she hadn't been here for long, for there was no wound on her, and her golden hair swung freely around her shoulders. She had tan skin and gold eyes, which made it hard to distinguish her emotion. The other unknown figure was hunched in the corner beside the door. Her eyes were disturbing, and it was quite odd that she had no color at all, however, what Yukina noticed most was that she was shaking. Out of all of them, she was the only one who didn't seem angry. Only scared. What did she know of these demons? What could she know?

Kurama approached her and held out a hand. "Yukina-san, are you all right?" he asked in his always caring voice.

"Yes, Kurama-san," she answered, weak.

Placing one hand around her shoulder and the other in her hand for support, he half-lifted, half-dragged the Koorime to the corner nearest the window. "I'm sorry, Yukina-san, but we can't use our spirit energy here. Otherwise I would heal you. For now, all I can do is ask Hiei for bandages. Hiei?" he asked, turning to the Voorime.

Hiei dug in his pocket and handed Kurama a bundle of bandages. Dutifully, Kurama went to work bandaging Yukina's wounds.

As soon as he finished, the door opened yet again, and an unconscious Ryu was slammed into the wall.

Yusuke stood up angrily. "Toguro! Why are you doing this? What did they do to you?" he practically growled.

"They became your friends. Now they suffer just as you made us suffer."

"So torture me! What do I care! But don't you fucking dare hurt my friends!"

"But that's the point. We are torturing you. All by hurting your friends. Will we ever hurt you? Oh, yes, and don't forget it. But first, we will whittle away on your friends. They're more fun, anyway."

At this point Kage looked up fearfully. "Toguro…You didn't…"

"No, not yet. She has to earn that."

Shaking, Kage buried her head beneath her knees and sat, quiet. Toguro pulled shut the door.

"Hiei, more bandages, please," said Kurama.

Hiei searched his pockets. A look of surprise crossed his face. "Sorry, fox. I'm out," he said quietly.

"Hiei! You can't be," said Kurama, annoyed. He slid an arm beneath Ryu's shoulders and another beneath her knees, and laid her out straight. "Well, I don't think she'll die from this. At least, we can hope," he sighed, and went back to his wall.

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Okay, I know its short, but I've had a lot of work from school lately, and I have to read the Hunchback of Notre Dame for my A.V.I.D. class, plus write an essay on the History of Haiku, and a short story at least four pages long for English, so I really don't have time. I'm sorry, I'll try to get the next one out as soon as possible, but I'm not really sure when that'll be. Oh, and if you're looking for something to read, my friend Kennamenna is writing a fic called lifestyles of the rich and famous (sporting the OCs from this story…), and Ryu Shoku has Fallen Through and something else I don't remember the name of. They're really good, please read. Kennamenna is good at updating – a lot better than me!

Sorry it's so short!

-Kage


	12. Real chap 12

Well, sorry about that! Um…I kinda lost the first half, so I'm posting this now to explain a bit of the un-understandable parts. So…yeah. And Ryu Shoku still wrote the last half, so THANK YOU Ryu!

Disclaimer: How many times have I said this? I don't own them. Why is that so hard to believe? Do I just look like someone who would own the Yu Yu Hakusho people?

Allie glared at the door. "That damn bastard," she muttered. "That god damn fucking bastard." Her hand clenched and shook slightly with the force she was emitting. "I hate him. I hate all of them."

Yusuke looked at her with shock. "Allie?" He had heard her swear before, of course, but never like this. She had never had such utter hatred infiltrating her voice, the sweet voice he had gotten so used to hearing.

Allie rose, her brown-gold locks sweeping behind her. Yusuke stood up too, wondering what the hell was going on. Allie walked to the window and threw Hiei off his windowsill.

"Onna what the hell?" asked Hiei angrily, reaching for his sword.

Allie turned almost glowing green eyes at him, the twinges of gold inside them making them seem to burn as though with an inner fire. "Shut up, Hiei. Now is not the time." Without another word, she turned back to the window, gripping it. She growled, and Kage stood up.

Kage walked over, quietly so as not to disturb Allie, and pulled Ryu out of Allie's line of fire. Laying her down, she began trailing pure white hands about half an inch above Ryu's body, never touching, but exerting her energy. It drained her quite a bit more to heal inside the compound, but Ryu was losing blood fast enough that Kage felt she couldn't afford to wait. Besides, Ryu would be one of the only ones (besides Kurama) to be able to stop Hiei from murdering Allie, and as she was their only way out, that was not the best thing at the time.

The wounds slowly began to disappear. They didn't leave very quickly, but they were being healed, the only downside was that it used a lot of Kage's energy to heal her. She sighed, resigning herself to the job, ignoring the pain of her draining energy. She wasn't able to completely heal them, and Ryu would be sore for quite a while, but she'd be ok, and that was what counted.

Allie, meanwhile, concentrated on the bars, her hair flying behind her. She ripped the bars out, and one of the rocks from the side of the grouping of bars flew straight at Yukina. Hiei growled and pulled his sister out of the way, adding another thing to his list of "Reasons to Kill the Onna." Allie turned and smiled at everyone, a complete change in her manner. "Ready to go home, guys?" she asked cheerfully.

Yusuke hugged her. "Thanks, Allie!" he exclaimed.

"N-no problem," she said, blushing. She screamed slightly as Yusuke jumped out of the large window hole with her in his arms. They landed securely on the ground and he set her down gently on the concrete outside the compound.

Hiei had loosened his grasp on Yukina, who, as it turns out, had a bit of a matchmaker quality hidden under her calm, never hurt, never baffled, always helping mood. She slipped out of Hiei's arms and jumped down, cringing as one of her wounds reopened, but ignoring it. That left Kage and Kurama able to jump, and an unconscious Ryu, and as Yukina saw it, Hiei would probably not let the chance to carry Ryu pass him by, whether he admitted it or not. She giggled, waiting for them.

As she had predicted, Hiei picked up Ryu and jumped, then Kurama took Kage's hand and they exited the cell as well. Yusuke looked at Allie. "I really mean it, thanks."

"N-no problem, Yusuke," she said, wondering why he kept talking to her. Not that she minded or anything, actually her heart leapt every time she heard his voice, but it was still a bit odd. "Should we go back?"

"Yeah," he answered. "C'mon, lover-boy."

"Detective," warned his "friend". "If you ever say that you will never be able to sire children, I guarantee it."  
"Wow Hiei, learned some new threats?"

"No, I save this one for you. Now shut up."

"Fine, fine." He watched as Hiei began walking. Yusuke followed along with everyone else. He was very confused, why was Hiei being nice? It made no sense. Allie ran up and took Yusuke's hand. He looked down to see who grabbed his hand and saw Allie. He was out of the questioning phase in five seconds. Allie was like a drug. She was addicting and he wanted to keep her, but he didn't want to stay with her. He didn't want to put her in danger. From what he saw when she fought it was like she would never get hurt against some demon. She was strong but she wasn't able to beat any of Yusuke's enemy's. Yusuke leaned down and kissed Allie on the cheek. Allie blushed. 'Oh my god. He just kissed me. I think I might die.' Allie hugged Yusuke, he put his arm around her and they walked back to Kurama's like they have been dating for along time.  
Kage looked down at the ground. Dammit why wasn't she able to get Toguro off her mind? Kage froze up remembering what he had done to her. She started shaking. Kurama turned around and saw how scared Kage looked. He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder, "Kage-kun are you ok?" Kurama asked in a worried voice.  
Kage twitched and saw that it was Kurama touching her. She smiled, "I'll be ok Kurama-san." She kept walking Kurama next to her. They started talking and Kage stuffed her bad memories behind her wall.  
Hiei walked with Ryu in his arms. He looked down and the teen he held. He smiled then stopped. What was he doing? This is the girl who threatened him, but she also stuck up for Yukina. Why did he care? Does he like her? No. I like no one. I never get attached. Hiei kept walking trying hard not to look at Ryu.  
Ryu opened her eyes and saw that Hiei was carrying her. She screamed and fell out of Hiei's arms. She stood up and dusted herself off. She looked at Hiei; he had a very confused look on his face. Why did she scream and then throw herself on the ground?  
"What the hell were you doing?" Ryu yelled. She was sort of blushing but not enough for anyone to notice.  
"I was carrying you back to the foxes house." Hiei said like it was obvious.  
"Did I ask you to carry me? No I guess I didn't."  
"Well I'm sorry I was trying to be nice!"  
"But I didn't ask you to be nice!"  
"Who cares if you asked or if you didn't!"  
"I care. I did not give you permission to carry me! Besides who told you to carry me here anyway?"  
"No one did! I don't do what people tell me to! I did it on my own free will!"  
"You mean you wanted to carry me?"  
"YES! Is that a problem?"  
Ryu started blushing so that people could see. Shit, he wanted to carry me? But why? Ryu looked up at Hiei.  
"I'm sorry that I yelled at you." She said in a quiet voice. Ryu looked kind of hurt. Dammit why do I always have to jump to conclusions? Why can't I keep my temper?  
"I'm sorry Hiei. I always do this. I can never keep my temper."  
Ryu looked up at Hiei, her big crimson eyes sparkling.  
Hiei looked at her. What was this sudden urge to hug her and tell her its ok? I hate this.  
"Hn." Hiei walked off. He turned around, "Its ok." He kept walking.  
Ryu looked so surprised. Why the hell did I just stand there and look stupid? Why didn't I walk with him back? SHIT! I'm not good at this kind of crap. Ryu walked over to Allie and Kage. "Hey guys can I talk to you?"  
"Yeah sure." They both said. Allie let go of Yusuke's hand and Kage left her conversation with Kurama. "So what's up?" Allie asked.  
"Yeah Ryu. You ok?" Kage asked with concern.  
"Yeah I'm fine. If I tell you this promise you won't laugh."  
"I can't promise anything until I know what it is." Allie said as she crossed her arms. Kage slapped her in the back of the head. "Of course we won't laugh."  
"OK, well, I have all these funny feelings in my stomach when I'm near Hiei. And I have the sudden urge to hold his hand and stay next to him. I don't know what's going on. I think i have some kind of bug."  
Allie busted in laughter and started rolling on the ground. Kage tried as hard as she could not to laugh but she got out so giggles.  
"You sure got a bug alright. You like the guy, you have to have some kind of sickness to like him." Allie said with bits of laughter in there.  
Kage walked over and kicked Allie in the head. "Ow! Why does everyone have to hit my head?"  
"So you think I like him?" Ryu asked all confused.  
"Well duh. Man don't you think it would suck if you told him you liked him and he didn't like you?"  
Ryu looked terrified. She leaned her head down. Kage slapped Allie again and walked over to her gothic friend. "Ryu..."  
"Forget it. I'm not telling him. Allies right, why would he like me?"  
"I'm not saying he wouldn't like you. I'm saying why would he like you? I mean your short and weird." Kage gave Allie a glare. "Stop being a bitch Allie."  
"Holly crap! Kage just cussed."  
"Well I had a good reason for it. Now stop being a bitch. How would you feel if Yusuke only liked you because you look like a model?"  
Allie stopped laughing and looked down. "I'm sorry Ryu. I guess I was being a bitch."  
"It's not your fault for speaking the truth. I don't care anymore. Hell when have I ever cared?" Ryu walked over to where Kurama and Yusuke were waiting. She kept walking head bent down and no expression on her face.  
Kage hit Allie again. "Ow what did I do now? And why do you keep hitting me?"  
"Ryu just gave up on Hiei. Dammit! You don't see me or her trying to bring you down on being with Yusuke, do you?"  
Allie looked down. Dammit what had she done? Ryu finally found someone she liked and Allie just shot it away. Allie ran forward and caught up with Ryu.  
"Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that. It was wrong of me."  
"Why would it be wrong for you to speak the truth? It doesn't matter ok? I like Hiei still but I don't care if he doesn't like me. So just forget about it." Ryu left and went to where she stayed. In a tree alone. That's where she could think and forget about everything. Ryu closed her eyes and fell asleep. She rolled over and fell out of the tree. THUD. Ow pain. Ryu got up and rubbed her head. Man that sure hurt. She thought. She opened her eyes to find a hand out to help her up. She looked up to see who it was and there stood Hiei.  
"Get off your ass onna." Hiei said in his non-feeling voice.  
Ryu blushed without even realizing it. "H-h-Hiei? What are you doing here?"  
Hiei noticed that she was blushing. He raised one eyebrow and cocked his head. "Onna why are you blushing?"  
Ryu's eyes got bigger and she turned her head. "I-I-I'm not blushing."  
"Hn. Then why are you stuttering?"  
"Why the hell do you want to know?"  
"Hn."  
"I'm sorry 'Hn' is not an answer."  
Hiei smirked and leaned down so he was close to Ryu's face. She could feel the warm coming off him. Ryu froze. "It is for me." Hiei said softly in her ear.  
Ryu finally got the nerve to speak. She smirked. "It may be for you. But when did I care what you think."  
"If you don't care, then why do you freeze up if I do this?" Hiei ran a finger down her arm. Ryu froze up again and tried to speak. "I-I-I d-don't." Ryu stuttered.  
Hiei smirked and pulled Ryu in his arms. "If you don't care then you won't mind if I do this." Ryu blushed even more. 'What is he doing? Is he...no this has to be a joke. Oh, I bet it is. Fine two can play this game.' Ryu rubbed the back of her hand down his cheek. "Of coarse I don't mind." Ryu said in a not so innocent but hot voice. Hiei smirked again. He leaned down and kissed Ryu very softly. 'Wait! Did he just kiss me? Man if this is an act then he is doing a hell of a job.' Hiei stopped and looked deep into Ryu's blood color eyes. He rubbed the back of his hand down her cheek now. (Repeat. Sorry Hiei that has already happened.)  
"You are so hot." Hiei whispered in Ryu's ear.  
She froze again. 'This can't be a joke. That would be just to mean and cruel to do to someone.'  
Hiei kissed her on the neck. Ryu froze up even more. She then looked at his neck and saw something. It looked like a small dart like thing. She grabbed it and pulled it out. Hiei stopped kissing her neck and stepped back. He was blushing even worse then Ryu was.  
"Um...what happened?" Hiei asked while he was rubbing his neck.  
Ryu looked down at the ground. Dammit! Why did he have to be under some damn spell or poison shit? Ryu looked up, sadness and disappointment ran through her eyes. "You had a dart in your neck which made you do weird things." Ryu said softly.  
"Weird how? And what's wrong with you?"  
"Nothing is wrong. The things you did were just strange. It wasn't you."  
"Hn. Ryu you sure you're ok?"  
Ryu got up and walked off. "I'm fine." She said when she left.  
Hiei watched Ryu walked away with her head bent down. 'What just happened? Why is she so sad?' Hiei ran after Ryu and grabbed her hand.  
"Hey, are you ok?" Hiei asked. Ryu still had her head down and she softly spoke, "I told you I'm fine."  
Hiei lifted up her chin and looked deep into her bright blood colored eyes. She had tearstains down her face and her eyes were filled with sadness.  
"Ryu, what's wrong?"  
"NOTHING! DAMMIT IM FRIKKING FINE! JEEZ WHY THE HELL DOES THERE ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SOMETHING WRONG!" Ryu yelled. She did lose her temper very easily.  
"I'm so sorry I cared! You looked like you were in pain and I just wanted to ask if you were ok! Is that such a problem?" Hiei lost is temper too.  
"YES! I'm not ok! And I don't need you to help me!"  
"Well fine! I won't be a good friend-"  
"I never asked you to be my friend!"  
"I can't believe I even cared! There is no reason to care for a vile creature like you!"  
Ryu got really silent. She turned around and walked off. The last look Hiei saw in her eyes was pain. Ryu started crying. 'Allie was right. He doesn't like me. I was so stupid to believe that He would like a disaster like me.' Ryu ran back to Allie's to tell her that she was right.  
Allie ran downstairs, "I got it! I got it!" Allie stopped before she answered the door. She checked her hair and straightened her outfit. She took a deep breath and opened the door.  
"Hi Yu-" Allie stopped and saw her gothic friend standing there looking lifeless. "Ryu? Hey are you ok?"  
Ryu walked inside Allies house and walked upstairs. She said nothing and she acted like she heard nothing. Allie ran upstairs after her.  
"Ryu hey. Talk to me what happened?"  
"Allie you were right."  
"I was right? About what?"  
Ryu explained everything and told Allie what happened between her and Hiei.  
"Man that must suck. Ryu I'm so sorry." Ryu looked down and paid no attention to Allie. She just put up her black hood and turned on her CD player. Allie looked at her friend with concern. She got and idea and ran out of the house. She ran down the street and went into the park. She started yelling. "HIEI JAGANASHI GET YOUR SHORT ASS OVER HERE GOD DAMMIT!"   
Hiei appeared right behind Allie and tapped her on the shoulder. "What do you want onna?"  
"There you are. Now listen here buddy! You broke my best friends heart and now you are going to pay!"  
Hiei jut stood there with a confused look on his face.  
"Ryu spilled her heart for you and you repaid her by calling he a vile creature! You disgust me! How could anyone be-"  
"Wait, what are you talking about Ryu spilling her heart?"  
"Um...didn't she tell you that she really likes you?"  
"No."  
"Oh. Great job Allie you opened your big mouth once again," Allie turned to look at Hiei, "Now listen here- hey where did you go?" Hiei wasn't there anymore. Ryu sat in Allies room. She was holding back her tears and using anger instead of being sad. She throw Allies alarm clock across the room and it smashed into the wall; breaking into a bunch of little pieces. 'GOD DAMMIT! I COULD I HAVE BEEN SO FRIKKING STUPID? WHY DID I BELIEVE THAT HE LIKED ME!' Ryu put her head down and started crying. "Why would he like me? I'm so weak. Now I understand why he doesn't care. I wouldn't care either." Ryu said to herself.  
"I don't know why you are crying. I like you so there is no reason to cry." Said a creep sick voice out of nowhere.  
Ryu looked up and Saw Karasu standing in the doorway. "What the hell do you want bomb boy?" Ryu said with murder in her voice.  
"Oh just to take you back."  
"Me? Why just me?"  
"Well..." Karasu walked over to Ryu and started playing with her hair. "Your little devil wraith thing is very interesting, and I might want to do some fun things with it." Karasu whispered in her ear.  
"Get away from me you sick bastard!" Ryu throw a punch at him and he caught it.  
"I don't think I want to." Karasu pulled Ryu close to him and started rubbing his head on her neck. "You smell so sweet. I want to keep you as my pet." Karasu made a portal and stepped through it right as Hiei came through the window. He saw Karasu leave with Ryu and the portal vanish.  
"Shit!" Hiei yelled and ran off.


	13. I finally updated!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated this in, like, forever, it's mainly because I didn't know how to end it and I don't do the Kage-Kurama pairing any more, Kage's paired with a fox named Kouhai, Youko's brother (actually the red fox from Narnia, don't ask), but I figured out how to end it. This ending erases the song I had meant to do at the end (I had it all worked out from the beginning, too…) but it means that the sequel is more to my liking, so I'll deal with it. So now I'm writing this with my friend, Ryu, and I've got the next 3 chapters written, almost to the end! So yay! I hope you haven't given up on me…

Oh and sorry about the little jump in plot, it makes no sense, I know. My friend and I write on these things called Alphasmart Pros, and they have files that hold roughly 5 pages, so she finished one part, uploaded it onto the computer, saved it, wrote the other, uploaded it, and saved it as a different thing. I didn't notice and thought I had all of it, so I'll try to find it and upload that to clue you in on what's going on. Sorry! Okay enough of my babbling, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I haven't updated in a year. If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho, that would make people very unhappy. So I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, and Ryu and Allie refuse to be owned, so I don't own them either. Got it?

Kage looked at Kurama. "Shit," she muttered.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking up from the chessboard. His last move hadn't been extremely witty or anything, so he was confused as to the swear word, also, Kage almost never swore. Something was up.

"Ryu's gone."

"How do you know?" he asked, fear boiling in his stomach.

"Hiei's emotions."

"Do you know who took her?"

"The crow demon."

"Karasu," he muttered grimly, standing up. "Let's go get Allie and Yusuke."

"Yeah, they're in the game room."

"Figures."

They opened the door to see Yusuke trying to best Allie's score at the punching game. "Guys," said Kage, shaking her head. "We have a problem."

"Yeah we do, she's stronger than me!"

Allie bonked him on the head, sending him flying into the receptacle, and the score when higher than even she had hit. She admired it for a moment, and then said absently, "What's up?"

"Ryu's gone."

Everyone snapped into action. Allie walked toward the door and was joined by the rest of the group. They walked out the door, then started running, with Kage in the front because she could sense Hiei's aura.

About half an hour of hard running later, they arrived at a grimy, cave-like structure. Hiei was in the middle of a fight with Sensui. It looked to be a one-sided brawl, or maybe someone letting their frustrations out on a concrete statue. Blood dripped from his mouth and right eye, and he had scrapes all over from the statue fighting back.

Kage gasped, stopping in her tracks. Allie stopped out of reflex (when Kage stops, Allie and Ryu stop), and Kurama stopped just short of hitting Kage, so Yusuke was the only one to crash his nose into the shadowy barrier around them.

"Ow…what the hell, I didn't think they could make barriers!" he complained.

"They can't," answered Kage tartly.

"Then whose is this?"

"Mine."

"So you're trapping us for no goddamn reason?"

"Look around us." Yusuke glared for a moment more, but did as she asked, gasping and stepping back as his S-class demon energy revealed neon green balls of highly combustible demon energy around them.

"Very good, I applaud your efforts," said a creepy voice. Karasu stepped out from the shadows. "But what would you do if I, say, brought all of them down on your flimsy shield at once?"

"Her shield is not flimsy! It crushed my nose!"

"That's not saying much. Your friend is focusing her energy on draining Sensui-san to help little Hiei. I'm afraid this is a very low-level shield."

"You are correct, but this is not all I plan to do, I'm afraid," answered Kage, malice creeping into her voice. Kurama, however, looking at her closely, noticed sweat appearing on her cheeks and that her skin was much more pale than normal, if that's possible. He saw her suddenly drop down slightly, and reached out to catch her, only to realize she had been bending her knees to jump. Allie grabbed her wrist and they shot through the barrier.

Smoke from the explosions echoed around them. Allie came rocketing out of it, sending a kick to Karasu's head. He backed up slightly, then smirked as he caught her fist. She growled and tried to pull back, and felt her bones crack. She cried out as he threw her into the grasp of Otto (Younger, I think) Toguro.

"Allie!" Yusuke yelled. He took a step forward and his leg exploded. Kage's shield was gone. That was when a drop of thick liquid fell onto Kurama's arm.

A white substance slid down, pierced by swirls of black. He looked up and was amazed to see that this odd mixture was Kage's blood.

White wings flapped from the girl's back. She had one arm clutching her stomach, and large chunks of her shoulder and thighs were gone, as well as holes out of her wings. Blood dripped from her mouth as well. Blood was falling behind Kurama, yet she hadn't stopped what she was doing. Hand outstretched, she drained the energy and life force of Sensui, trying to save Hiei in the battle that she knew he couldn't win.

"Kurama," she whispered weakly, "You and Yusuke help Allie." She pointed at Yusuke, who was trying to walk on his leg although gleaming white bone showed through. A moment later, a mist overwhelmed him and he was left with a simple cut. As soon as he could walk he ran forward.

Kurama looked up at Kage. "But what about you?"

"I'll be fine! Kurama…" she looked at him. "Please, help Allie and Hiei. Save Ryu." Her eyes held a pleading note.

Kurama took one last look at the girl, and then rushed into battle.

Allie had slammed her foot into the soft area that every man holds precious. Otto Toguro was crumpled on the ground, having had his privates crushed by Allie's Super-Strength.

Yusuke sprang into their midst and slammed his fist into Ani (older?) Toguro's stomach. He didn't stop there, as he grabbed his stomach and, glaring, tied the stretchy man in a knot. "Hey fox-boy! Gimme a hand cutting this guy to shreds!"

"I have a better idea. Yusuke, let's—" he was cut off by a scream from Allie. He glanced over to see her about 40 feet in the air, suspended by Bui's neon green energy. A bomb exploded by her head.

"Now, should I bring that a bit closer?" taunted Karasu.

"You little bastard shit-fuck mother fucking BIRD!" she yelled. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"Oh but it's not my energy suspending you. If it were, you would explode."

"Goddamn bastard!"

"Allie!" yelled Yusuke, dropping Ani Toguro and running forward—straight into a nest of Karasu's bombs.

Kurama shot his hand out and skewered Ani as he fell. The vines grew in his body, and would have killed him, but for the pain erupting in Kurama's head as two massive fists slammed down. He shot his arm around, but the rose whip that formed simply clanged off of Otto Toguro's steel body. His vision swam and he angled his whip toward Toguro again, but a bomb exploded his shoulder, and before he could stop it, his whip was speeding straight at Hiei and Sensui.

Sensui noticed the whip and jumped out of the way, leaving it to pierce Hiei's chest.

Hiei pulled it out with a grimace, blood coming out of cuts on his hands. "Baka kitsune, what the hell was that for?" he yelled, but he looked up and his words died in his throat.

Kurama was unconscious on the ground, losing blood rapidly. Otto Toguro was pummeling Yusuke, and he was unresponsive. Karasu and Bui were having fun torturing the onna, Allie, and Ani Toguro was keeping watch.

Hiei growled, feeling his own blood soak his shirt. Where the hell was the black-and-white girl? He thought angrily. Using his Jagan he scanned the area and she was easy to locate – flying above and behind him, lowering Sensui's energy reserves. Too bad she was lowering her own as well. She'd have to tap into life energy soon.

Sensui had monitored his dropping life force and decided he'd lost enough. Lightning-fast, he shot out a hand, sending a blast of sacred energy at the girl. She didn't even have enough energy to dodge.

The yellow energy caught her form and held it still, but she could feel it searing through her skin. She raised a barrier with the rest of her life energy, but as the blast disintegrated, she crashed onto the ground, hard, and lay, unmoving, except for a whispered sentence that escaped her lips as her spirit left her body.

"Kurama…I love you."


	14. Itomi, the link to death

Hiei's eyes narrowed. As Sensui smirked at the unmoving girl, he swung his arm around, using his demon energy to augment the speed. The sword bit into the soft stomach of the former Sprit Detective.

That is, it should have.

Hiei's crimson eyes widened as the sword had nothing. Just an after-image, a trick that he had used often himself. He cursed himself for falling for it, then a thought came into his head. He was repulsed but interested by it. It seemed to be a way to win this war.

'What would Kurama do?' was the thought that snuck into his mind, spit up from wondering the same thing in countless battles when he had to work with the scheming fox. He was always about four steps ahead of everyone else, keeping his head and working properly no matter the risks. It was something Hiei found hard to keep up with, though he prided himself on doing better than anyone else in their "team". He thought about it, what Kurama would do if he were awake.

Moving fast, he executed his actions even before he knew what he was going to do. His sword slipped from his fingers as he zipped forward. He had been swinging his arm forward, so the kinetic energy carried it forward, splitting molecules in a line straight as an arrow, directly into the crow demon's heart.

Karasu's eyes opened wide, the white showing all the way around the lavender, as he fell to the ground. The sword stuck out of his chest, crimson blood staining the ground.

Hiei smirked, and turned insanely angry eyes to Sensui. "You realize," he said, in a voice much too deep and grave to truly be him, "that once all of your team members are dead, I'm coming for you. And you'll watch them all die, and then you'll die yourself."

"Ha, don't make me laugh," said Sensui, thinking he was still in control.

"Yes, laughing is a bad thing," came the voice of a girl. The voice was close to Kage's, but laced with evil, evil from the deep of her soul. "Especially when the bodies of the dead and the dying litter the floor of the battleground."

A white figure stood behind Hiei, about fifteen feet away. Leathery, white wings were on her back, and her white dress seemed to hang off her curves, fluttering in the wind generated by her idly flapping wings. Everything about her was white, absolutely everything…except her eyes. Her eyes were a blood red without pupils, a pool of blood, swirling in itself, zeroing in on Sensui.

A scream ripped from Allie's throat as Bui dropped her. She landed on the ground, cracking her head on a rock. Her golden eyes fluttered shut. Bui advanced on the figure in white, yelling.

She shot out one iridescent hand, and his life force seemed to drain from him, gathering into the palm of her hand. She then threw the life force at Ani Toguro. It devoured him, eating him from the skin down to the bone; then eroding even that. He screamed as it ate away at him, but there was nothing he could do. His death was inevitable.

Otto Toguro yelled for his brother. "You killed him!" he roared, anger and remorse clear in his eyes.

"And you killed my sister. What the hell are you going to do about it?" she asked, eyes narrowing even more. Shooting off, a white, controlled sword slid through his stomach. It was twisted, resembling a unicorn horn, and the hand guards were the wings of a dragon. She turned to Hiei. "He's yours," she said, not showing any emotion but anger, hatred.

"Yes. He is." Hiei's sword, somehow back in his hand, was leveled to his shoulder level. To the girl's eyes, it slightly resembled Saito's Gatotsu.

The sword slid neatly into Sensui's widened eyes. How Hiei managed to move that fast could only be chalked up to the sight of a battered, bruised and bloody Ryu standing up behind Sensui, eyes scared.

Hiei dropped his sword, letting Sensui fall forward, and ran to Hiei. He looked deep into her eyes. "Ryu are you okay?" he asked, worry seeping into his voice.

"Oh, so now you care?" she asked, angry tears filling her eyes as her memories came back.

"Answer the damn question."

"Do I look ok?" she asked, gesturing to her body state and expression.

"No…you don't."

"So why the hell did you ask?"

"Listen, I asked because I was worried! Is that so hard to imagine?"

"Yes it is!"

"Oh and why's that, onna?"

"Because you never care about me! You never have and you never will! Remember?"

"I never said that."

"Well you sure as hell acted it! You acted like you hated me!" she yelled, her pent up emotions breaking through.

"Well I didn't!"

"And it would kill you to show it wouldn't it!"

"What would you say if it would?"

"Well maybe if you had told me, I wouldn't have been so dejected and easy for Karasu to capture!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault you were so damn weak?"

"Shut up! I'm betting you would've gotten caught too!"

"He wouldn't have been coming after me!"

"Why the hell not?"

"He only comes after pretty girls, remember?"

A blush stained his cheeks slightly, then he turned away, closing his eyes in a kind of sulk.

"Wait a minute…pretty? You…you think I'm…pretty?"

"Hn."

"I know you can say something other than that!"

"Hn."

"Baka."

"Onna."

"Yes, I'm a woman. Damn boy. Didn't even notice."

"Shut the hell up."

"What, am I making you uncomfortable?"

Hiei turned and started walking away, kicking Yusuke's side.

Yusuke groaned, rolling over, then sitting up, hand to his head. He looked around the battlefield, and his eyes widened at the outcome.

Kurama was unconscious, and Ryu had her back turned to him. The shaking of her shoulders could only say she was crying. Hiei was walking away, fuming. Kage was still "sleeping," and a girl in white was standing over her, looking at her with these slightly disappointed eyes.

And Allie was unconscious on the ground, blood coming from a cut in her head.

He ran to her, pulling her into his lap. "Allie, Allie please wake up. Allie please. You have to get up."

"Nnn…five more minutes…Kage I fucking hate you I don't wanna get up…"

"Allie, it's not Kage."

Her gold eyes opened and she looked at him inquiringly.

"Good, if you were Kage I'd be hella scared."

"Yeah me too. You ok?"

"My head hurts, but past that, I'm fine."

"Good."

"You?"

"Better now," he said, smirking. He leaned down and kissed her, holding her close.

Her eyes opened wide for a moment, but then she closed them, looping her arms around his neck, kissing him back.

Green eyes opened, staring at the sky for a moment, trying to realize where he was. Kurama sat up immediately, a little too fast for his head. His world spun for a moment, then he looked around. "Kage?" he whispered, surveying the groups; Ryu alone, Hiei sulking away from her, Allie and Yusuke (he averted his eyes from them quickly), and…Kage.

She was lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood, the blood still slipping from her body. A girl stood above her, someone who seemed adamantly evil, but she wasn't evil right now. She was sad.

And Kage hadn't woken up yet.

"Kage!" Her name slipped from his lips as he ran forward. He gathered her into his arms. "Kage, wake up. Please, wake up. Don't leave me. You can't leave me here. Please don't leave me here. Please. Kage. You can't leave."

"Fox, face it," came the voice of the girl. "She's not waking up. She's already left you. That's Kage for you. Decided to sacrifice herself for some stupid cause. No reason in her living, that's her idea, so long as her friends are alive and okay."

"No…no you're wrong…"

"I'm the angel of death. I escort people to hell. You really think I'd be wrong about this?" She looked at him with a wry face.

Kurama looked down, his eyes misting with tears as he realized the inevitable. "K-kage…"

It settled into his conscience, and though he didn't want to accept it, he had to. He had to accept the truth.

Kage was dead. She had left him there, and she was never coming back.

His tear landed on her lifeless face, followed by another, and another. He felt like his tears would never end.


	15. Finality

"Hiei."

"Yes, onna?" asked the fire demon in an annoyed voice.

"You have to go back."

"I've never known you to act matchmaker, Itomi."

"Neither have I. Maybe I'm just having an off day," she said, red eyes flashing.

"Oh really?" he asked sarcastically.

"Shut the hell up. Just go back there and get all kissykissy and get out of my way, will you?"

"Why do you care anyway?"

"I hate ferrying people to hell who died over love. They're always so moaney."

"And what are you going to do about your sister?" asked Hiei, as always, insensitive to any feelings even the emotionless deity of hell could contain.

"I won't have to ferry her. Remember, she was a saint. Saints don't go to hell too often." Hiei shook his head, trying to convince himself that the bit of remorse, sadness, in her voice was fake. "By the way, will you make up your mind someday?"

"About what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stop calling me out on false alarms. Either live or die, get out of the life-or-death situations. They're annoying."

"Thanks, I agree."

And the two left the forest, one black cloak whispering through the trees at an uncharacteristic slow walk, and the other walking on slightly halting steps, flowers shriveling around her burning white form. No voice left Itomi's lips as she softly whispered in her mind, "Goodbye, idiot." She angrily blinked her eyes, not allowing tears to form. There would be enough of that when she told her family. She let out a breath. God that was going to be annoying.

Hiei slowly walked back to the edge of the tree clearing. He easily sensed the Ryu's ki, sitting in the tree above him. It was desolate and remorseful, not to mention SAD. He repressed a growl at himself, cloak rustling as he jumped onto Ryu's tree branch.

Ryu didn't look up, but he knew she knew he was there. She turned her head away a little more, black hair feathering down to hid her face from view.

"Ryu." He had meant to say it softly, but it came out as a word soft in volume, but not in tone.

"Nngh." Her nondescript sound was his only answer.

"Ryu."

"No."

"Yes."

"What the hell do you want?"

"For you to stop moping."

She looked up for a moment, red eyes disbelieving. "You really think I'll do that?"

"Why won't you?"

"Oh, I don't know, my best friend is dead, the guy I love won't stop yelling at me, my other friend is all wrapped up in her boyfriend, and I can't do _anything_, but no, _nothing's_ wrong with me, of _course_ not."

"Well maybe I wouldn't yell at you if you wouldn't bait me along!"

"_I'm_ baiting _you_ along?"

"Yes! You are!"

"By what? Admitting my feelings to you?"

"Yes!" He didn't even realize what he said until he said it. "I-…"

"Oh, sorry," she said, a shield rising behind her eyes. They were guarded and cautious, not showing anything except anger. "I guess I can tell when I'm not wanted, huh?"

"Ryu…I …"

"Save it for someone who cares."

"I thought that was who I was talking to!"

"Well maybe it was, at one point. But that all stopped when you pulled my heart out and skewered it on that sword of yours. By the way, I'd like it back if you don't mind."

"Actually, I do mind."

"Oh yeah, I guess it's not enough for a guy just to stomp on a girl's heart and kill her emotionally, he has to keep causing her pain too. I forgot."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"It's sure as hell what you're implying!"

He caught her at the end of the word, and she gasped in shock as his mouth met hers. She shrank back slightly, remembering a different set of lips, surrounded by black hair and purple eyes, lips she had never wanted to touch hers. She didn't notice her hand start to shake slightly, but apparently he did, because he grasped it in his before looking straight into her eyes as he said his next sentence.

"I want to keep your heart because if I have it, I might be able to heal it. I never wanted to hurt you, Ryu. Please, may I at least try to heal it?" His eyes and voice were shaking slightly with sincerity.

She looked into his eyes for an unbearably long time before smiling slightly. Just a ghost of a smile, but Hiei's heart jumped. Then she leaned forward and pressed her cheek against his neck, pulling his hand in hers to her chest, then covering it with her other one, treasuring it. He wrapped his other arm around her gently, pulling her to him.

She gladly surrendered all her emotional barriers, and finally, she let her tears fall.

**Kurama's POV (A/N: Wow, haven't done that one in a while…)**

It's grey. Funny. Kage always said that was her least favorite color out of everything. She liked white and black, but grey was in the middle, and she didn't like it. If she were here, she'd be complaining that everything's so monotone, telling everyone to lighten up and wear some color. And then Yusuke would make some comment about how she didn't wear color either, and she'd throw a rock at him.

Oh yeah, I forgot. She is here. So's her whole family. I guess it would be rude to miss your own funeral.

Tears bloom at my eyes, something that's been happening too often lately. I make no effort to wipe them away. I won't hide my grief.

Her whole family is here, and they're off to one side. Her eldest sister, Takara, is sitting on a garden bench, trying to comfort her youngest sister, Keisha. Her mother and father are standing together by the casket, looking down. Her mom laid a flower on her earlier, but it's not enough. I understand her there. How could a flower ever be enough?

Itomi, the white one, is standing away from the whole group. She's glaring at the ground, and the grass in front of her is dying. Scratch that, it's already dead. I suppose the other grass is probably screaming in fright and looking to me to save them, but I'm not really listening.

Everything seems so fake. It's like it's not real without her here, pointing out the flowers and asking what they are, just…she was so…innocent. Saintly. I don't know. I can't describe Kage, or what I felt for her. All I can feel is the pain at the fact that she's not here.

Allie and Ryu are talking, and Ryu's let down that mask she always wears. Hiei and Yusuke are standing together a little ways away.

Kage's oldest sister, Takara, is walking over to me. It's odd, but I don't even feel any surprise as she envelops me in a hug. I don't really feel anything at all. Just…an emptiness consuming me. She then pulls back to look at me. "Kurama?" she says in a soft voice. It's the first voice I've actually heard this morning. It's a lot like Kage's, but softer, without the battleworn sound.

I meet her eyes. I see her flinch slightly. I must look a mess, but I don't care. She apparently gets over it as well, as she swallows and says softly, "I'm sorry."

"I…" I can't get anything else out. It's like I took too big a bite of dry bread, and it's stuck in my throat.

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and that I hope you're happy again someday. I know it's what Kage would want."

What Kage would want? How can it be that? I don't want anyone except her!

My confusion and desperation must have shown on my face, because she let a ghost of a smile onto her face for a moment. "That's just who Kage is. She doesn't care what happens, when her friends or loved ones are happy, she's happy. She wouldn't want you to mope forever."

"…Y-yeah, you're right." It's true. Every time I see her in my mind, she's smiling when I'm smiling, as best she can. It's that cute, happy smile I always remember her with. And whenever I smiled, she smiled.

I can't force a smile now, though. My true emotions bubble over onto my cheeks, leaving warm, wet trails of salty liquid down them. When Takara looks up, she's crying too, but the little smile is still on her face.

I watch her go to pay her respects to Kage. She kneels before Kage's coffin, laying a bouquet of white roses by the side. Then she says, in a voice tainted by tears, "Now don't you come back to smell the roses, Kage. I love you and all, but sometimes, a sister needs a little peace. And…well…you sure figured out how to give it to us, didn't you? Well, have fun up there in heaven, sis. And when you look down here again, don't be offended that I'm smiling, and pushing 'your' Kurama toward another girl. I'm not gonna let him mope forever, and you've gotta see the sense in that. So…love ya, sis, and you'll always be here with me, but…we're going to move on. We will. You'll see." And when she stood up, her tears were gone, and there was a little bit of determination on her face as she went to talk to Ryu, who listened for a while, then abruptly threw a little fire at her and turned away.

But even after that, Kage, the world's still grey. I don't want it to be grey. Kage…I turn away from the casket, sitting heavily on a bench.

I'm alone, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I'll go on living, sure, but I'm not going to just move on like Takara said. I can't just forget about her like that.

**Okie,** that's it….for now…but hopefully I'll update soon, now that school's over. Adios!


	16. A pairing and a funeral

Epilogue: 10 years later

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.

"So, Shuichi, you graduated. I'm betting you're not too surprised, huh?" asked Chi Koe, Kurama's college friend. She had messy, spiky black hair that ran down her back, and her pupil-less red eyes were squeezed with happiness. Unlike Kurama, her graduation had been iffy, but she'd made it, with a bit of tutoring. Kurama had tutored her once a week throughout her last year.

"Yes, I suppose I did," he answered absently. _If only Kage were here to see this. She could've gone through college with me._

"…Shuichi? What are you thinking about?" asked Chi, cocking her head to the side.

"Oh, nothing," he said, putting on his normal, interested yet disinterested face.

"You're thinking about someone at home, aren't you? You have a sweetheart?" asked Chi in a teasing voice.

"N-no," he said, stopping himself from saying anything else. He looked away, down at the ground.

"Huh?" Chi said in a confused voice, leaning precariously off-balance, trying to look into his eyes to see what was going on. He chuckled slightly as she started to fall and grabbed onto his graduation robes. She shrieked as it came off, twirling around her, and he reached out trying to grab her, but she managed to fall onto the ground and be completely tangled in the robe. One foot was sticking out, twitching slightly.

"Chi-san? Chi-san, are you alright?" asked Kurama, leaning over her.

Chi's best friend, Tsumi, walked over, shaking her head. "Well that's Chi for you," she muttered, flipping her black hair. The blue and green highlights shone in the light as she leaned down and grabbed hold of one of the many ribbons Kurama had been awarded, this one for science, and yanked.

Chi twirled out, and from about three feet above the ground, she fell, head smashing onto the brick patio.

"Chi-san…" Her eyes were swirling, and she stared at the sky, but didn't see it. "We should get her to a doctor."

"There's no point. She'll be fine in a few minutes."

Sure enough, about thirty seconds later, Chi sat up and put a hand to her head. "Oww……what happened?" she asked in a confused voice.

"You fell," Kurama answered simply.

"Oh. Well that's normal."

"Baka," muttered Tsumi, walking away to get some punch.

"So…what were we talking about again?"

"Do you have trouble remembering anything? You could have a concussion." Kurama's brows were furrowed in worry.

"Wouldn't be the first time, but no, I'm fine. I've had those damn things so many times that I can feel them coming on now."

"Oh really? You don't seem like the danger-prone type to me," Kurama observed.

"Well I am, I'll have you know. I'm always getting in trouble." She stood up and looked around, then winced slightly at the rip in Kurama's robes.

"Sorry about that…"

"It's alright. I'm just glad you're not hurt."

"Heh…yeah." She smiled brightly, then sat down on a bench, pulling him down as well. "So…what are you planning on doing after college?"

"I haven't really decided yet. I majored in animalistic sciences, mainly veterinary services, so I could become a vet…"

"I think that'd suit you. Something…calm." She chuckled. "Though what I've glanced of you when you're on the basketball courts and don't think anyone's listening, you could go out for pro basketball too if you wanted to."

"Ah…you saw me?"

"Well, yeah, they're right under my window."

"I…oh." He scratched the back of his head. "It's just a hobby."  
"Okay, if you say so…"

"And you, Chi-san? What are you planning on doing?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe…um…um….maybe………….a person who draws for calendars, or maybe an artist, or I write sometimes, or…"

"So basically you have no idea."

"Pretty much."

Kurama chuckled lightly. "I could see you as a teacher, Chi-san. What did you major in?"

"I majored in something?"

"Come on, Chi. You must have majored in something. What were most of your classes about?"

"Um…"

"Let me see your diploma."

"Diploma? That's the twirlie paper, right?"

"…yes, that's the twirlie paper."

"Okay, here." She handed him her diploma, then started humming absently.

"Child care and education."

"Yeah, I like kids, what about it?"

"That's what you majored in."

"Oh, is it? Okay. So…what was the point of that?"

"You majored in child care and education; you could be a teacher, for elementary."

"OOH THAT'D BE FUN!"

"…I'm glad you like it." He paused, looked for something else to talk about. It was nice being able to talk to someone and forget anything that was bothering him. "Where are you going to live after this?"

"I'll mooch off of Tsumi, who's mooching off of her sister Ryu and her boyfriend."

Kurama's eyebrows rose. "You know Ryu?"

"Well, kinda. Through Tsumi. But wait…you know them?"

"Yes, Ryu's 'boyfriend' Hiei is my best friend."

"Oh, that's cool…so I'll be seeing you around?"

"I suppose so." He groaned mentally. _I have to deal with her?_

"You don't look overly enthusiastic…"  
"Sorry…just…" he jumped on the first thing he could see as an excuse. "It's a humbling thought, being…well, basically being an adult."

"Yeah…" for once, Chi was quiet, staring at the sky with a pensive expression on her face. "Kind of lonely."

"Very lonely." _Kage…_

"Guess what!" Allie was hyper again. Kurama's ear rung slightly as he rubbed it, pushing his blonde friend away.

"What, Allie?"

"Yusuke proposed!" She held out her hand, brandishing a large diamond on a gold setting.

"Nice ring…" _How'd Yusuke afford that?_ He showed nothing on his face of his surprise as a piece of paper was slipped into his hand as Yusuke walked to Allie, putting an arm around her.

He snuck a look at the note as Allie kissed her fiancé, and his eyebrows rose as he saw: "Hey foxboy, IOU about 12000 bucks. Pay ya back when I get the chance. Oh and here's your credit card back." Sure enough, there was a credit card folded into it. Kurama sighed, slipping the note into his pocket.

"Congratulations, you two," he said, chuckling. He flashed Yusuke a stern look for a moment, but then dismissed it.

"Yeah. We're not sure when the wedding is, but…" she giggled. "Yusuke stop tickling me!"

"Why? I like seeing you squirm."

"Yusuke you jerk!"

"Yusuke, stop harassing your girlfriend," came the weary voice of Atsuko. She wobbled out, and unlike the rest of them, she was certainly showing her age. Her hair was loosely in a high ponytail, and bags were under her eyes while wrinkles "dignified" her mouth.

"Girlfriend, mom? This is my fiancé."

"Oh is she? That's nice…wait…your fiancé? As in my Yusuke is finally getting married?"

"Yeah, mom. Meet Allie Sakyo."

"Hello," said Allie, having to refrain herself from pinching her nose because of the smell of alcohol and cigarettes that perforated her body.

"Hey there," Atsuko said in a tired voice. "If you don't mind, guys, I'm going back to bed."

"…Night, mom," said Yusuke, waving it off.

"Your mom's weird."

"Tell me about it."

Everyone watched as Allie walked up the aisle, stunning in her dress. It must have cost a fortune, but of course, that wasn't a problem for Allie. It was a crème white, hugging her bodice and waist to the hips, where it flowed out in a spiral design, the crème ending at different lengths above her knees. Below that, a shimmering bronze-gold silk flowed out, brushing the tips of her toes and trailing behind her in the same pattern as her hair, brushed to a glossy sheen. The bodice of the dress was crinkled, tufts of gold showing up below it, and the sleeves of the dress ended with crème loosely to the knuckles, then ruffled, longer gold flowing below that, reaching two feet down. She was absolutely beautiful, and from the look on Yusuke's face, he knew it.

Ryu, the bridesmaid, was wearing a deep red spaghetti-strap dress with black lace for sleeves, and was looking away, annoyed. _Why couldn't they just get mated and forget about this whole "marriage ceremony"? That's a ningen formality. They're both demons. Yet they still force me into a _dress

Kuwabara was acting ring-bearer, as there was no child in the group, and they had dressed him in one of the velvet blue suits that look so cute on anyone from toddler to four-year-old, but annoying past that. He was making the best of it, completely oblivious, smiling happily.

And Kurama was best man, dressed in a black tux with a red lining, a (big surprise) rose in the buttonhole. His hair, now reaching his lower back, was pulled back in a single braid with a few pieces still wisping forward. He wore a faked half-smile. _She should be here. Kage…you should be here to see their wedding, if nothing else._

Yusuke was wearing a normal tux, but like everything else he wore, he looked completely awesome in it as he took Allie's hand at the altar. The monk, a man in his twenties wearing a purple and black robe, said the vows. He seemed to get bored half way through, Kurama noticed, but kept going, then asked them the question. Neither of them one for sappy speeches, the answers were short "I do" s. The monk slammed his gold staff down on the ground, rings tinkling, and said, "You may kiss the bride."

And kiss he did. Yusuke and Allie must have kissed for half a minute. Ryu tapped her foot, Hiei sighed, Kuwabara tilted his head, confused, and Kurama looked away, slightly embarrassed for them. There were light titters in the audience and bemused mutterings of "Young love." Atsuko's voice rose above the rest, saying in a normal, if compassionate, voice, "Ain't it cute?"

As he scanned his eyes over the crowd, he saw someone he would never have expected to see anywhere except his dreams.

Hah! Cliffhanger! Though I'm betting you know who it is, I don't care. Oh and the next chapter WILL be out soon, I promise. I'm going to write it now.


	17. She's baaaaaaaaaaaack!

A girl was sitting in the pews, cloaked in black. Had she turned her head down, her face would have been invisible. As it was, she was sitting with her chin on her palm, looking at the couple with a bored, bemused expression.

Her face was a pale white, with large eyes that shifted from black to the top to white at the bottom. She hadn't noticed yet that he was looking.

It was Kage.

_Is this…a dream? No…it can't be…can it?_ Kurama walked down the steps, ignoring the rustle as people turned to look at him, Ryu's and Hiei's identical raised eyebrows, and Allie's shocked face as she turned to look at him. None of that mattered. What mattered was that he was looking at Kage, and she was really there. She had turned to him, quirked an eyebrow. He faintly heard her say softly, "Kurama? What are you…" as he touched her shoulder to see if it was real. He felt a heavy cloth of some sort under his fingers. A moment later, she was wrapped in his arms, held close. She patted his back lightly, and he heard her say softly in his ear, "Kurama, can't we save this for later? Everyone's staring."

"I don't care," he muttered, holding her close. She sighed and relaxed, but did pull him down into the pew so they weren't randomly standing in the aisle.

"Alright, everyone, nothing to see here," came the matter-of-fact voice of Chi. She had walked to the front of the aisle, hands on her hips, and looked quite…well…odd was an understatement. She had tried to be fancy, and ended up in a blue knit blouse and a pink, knee-length skirt. It clashed completely with her uncontrollable black hair and pupil-less red eyes. Now, everyone was staring at her. She sighed, annoyed. "Hey guys," she said mischievously, "there's cake out there…" Then she stepped out of the way of the stampede, mainly Yusuke, Kuwabara, and a whole bunch of kids. The mothers followed the kids, the fathers following the mothers, and everyone else following them, quite a bit slower. Pretty soon, everyone had left except for Ryu, Hiei, Allie, Kurama, Kage, and Chi. Chi looked around, made a little noise of shock and embarrassment, and left as well.

Kage hugged Kurama, then waited for him to get a hold of himself. _How long are we going to sit here like this? It's kinda embarrassing…._ "Ku…rama? Um…can we…save this for later?"

"I…yeah," he said, blushing slightly, sitting back. "How did you—what--?"

"I love my sister…most of the time."

"…which one?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, this time it was Itomi."

They didn't get any more time to talk, because Ryu and Allie, at once tackled Kage to the ground. She went through the pew, through the one behind her, and ended up on the ground. She looked up with disoriented eyes. "Allie, don't kill me again, I just got re-livened."

"Oops." Then they were hugging her, and she sighed, ignoring the fact that she couldn't breathe. Kurama tapped them on the shoulder and pointed it out, and soon everybody was laughing, except for Hiei, who was looking away, an annoyed expression on his face.

He saw a swish of white going out, and heard the woman mutter, "I can't believe I did that…" Itomi left the church, an annoyed expression on her face.

Well, that's it! That's the end of Who's Next! Yay! There will be some sequels, though—one per OC. Kagami no Namida (formerly Ryu Shoku) will be writing Ryu's story and posting it here, and if I can convince her, Allie Sakyo Urameshi will be writing Allie's story and posting it on my account as well. So, if you have me on author alert, you'll get alerts to all three. If not, just tell me and I can email them to you as we post them. So…that's the end! Oh, and if anyone has some handy suggestion for a pairing for Chi, it would be appreciated. Lately in my stories, she's Kurama's pairing, but I thought it was better to keep Kage in this matter. If not I'll just make an OC pairing and she'll fade into the background. She'll probably fade there anyway. She was just a carryover character anyway. Also, I want to thank xxakikuxx (or whatever you're calling yourself right now:-P) and icedragongurl for always being there, no matter how erratic my reviewing. You guys are the best!


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